O R D E R

[Order of the Court was made by M.SUNDAR, J.,]

Captioned main 'Writ Petition' {hereinafter 'WP' for the sake of brevity} has been filed assailing a 'notice (mwpt[g;g[) dated 25.04.2024 bearing reference Na.Ka.ea.285/2022/tha.ea issued by R1 i.e., Executive Officer, Selection Grade Town Panchayat - Special Grade, Harur Taluk, Dharmapuri District' {hereinafter 'impugned notice' for the sake of convenience and clarity}.

2. Mr.C.Munusamy, learned counsel on record for writ petitioner submits that 'land in S.Nos.150/37B in Periyar Nagar, Harur Special Grade Town Panchayat, Dharmapuri District' {hereinafter 'said land' for the sake of brevity} for which impugned notice has been issued by R1 has been purchased by writ petitioner's wife and that it is not a case of encroachment but in and by the impugned notice, there is a direction to remove the alleged encroachment.

3. Learned counsel also draws our attention to S.No.5 in reference qua impugned notice and submits that the impugned notice refers to an earlier order made by another Hon'ble Division Bench dated 08.03.2024 in W.P.No.6242 of 2024. To be noted a scanned reproduction of this order is as follows:

4. Issue notice to both respondents.

5. Mr.Habeeb Rahman, learned Government Advocate accepts notice for R1 and Mr.T.K.Saravanan, learned Government Advocate accepts notice for R2.

6. Learned State counsel, on instructions, submits that impugned notice has been issued under 'the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998' {hereinafter 'TNULB Act' for the sake of brevity}.

7. Owing to limited legal perimeter of captioned matter, with the consent of both sides, main WP was taken up in the Admission Board itself.

8. A careful perusal of TNULB Act makes it clear that Section 128 thereat captioned 'Power to Remove Encroachment from Public place' is relevant and more particularly, sub-section (1) of Section 128 of TNULB Act is relevant which reads as follows:

'128. Power to remove encroachment from public place. - (1)

The Commissioner may, -

(a) remove without any notice any movable temporary structure, enclosure, stall, booth, any article whatsoever hawked, exposed or displayed for sale or any other thing whatsoever by way of encroaching street or public place or the [land belonging to or vested with the municipality] with the municipal limit;

(b) remove any immovable structure whether permanent or of temporary nature encroaching the street or public place or the [land belonging to municipality or vested with the municipality] within the municipal limit, after issuing a show cause notice for such removal, returnable within a period of seven days form the date of receipt thereof:

Provided that the Commissioner shall consider any representation received within the time limit, before passing final orders.'

9. We also perused earlier order dated 08.03.2024 in W.P.No.6242 of

2024 made by another Hon'ble Division Bench and we find that the earlier order pertains to a different survey number viz., S.No.150/16 (to be noted, impugned notice pertains to S.No.150/37B). However, we express no opinion on this as we shall now be making an order providing for an opportunity to writ petitioner to show cause considering the language in which Section 128(1)(b) of TNULB Act is couched.

10. In the light of the narrative thus far, the following order is passed:

i) Impugned notice of R1 dated 25.04.2024 bearing reference Na.Ka.ea.285/2022/tha.ea shall now be treated as 'show cause notice' ['SCN' for the sake of brevity];

(ii) Writ petitioner shall respond to SCN within seven days from today i.e., by 21.06.2024;

(iii) R1 shall consider the response of writ petitioner and shall also consider any other representation if received within this time limit before making final orders;

(iv) Though obvious, we make it clear that earlier order referring to S.No.150/16 and present impugned notice referring to S.No.150/37B can also be raised in the writ petitioner's reply to SCN;

(v) R1 shall either drop or proceed with removal subject