304 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of Decision : 18.02.2026 Chopra Hotels Private Limited and Others ... Petitioners Versus Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar and Another ... Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE ALKA SARIN Present : Mr. Gaurav Chopra, Senior Advocate with Mr. Prateek Gupta, Advocate Mr. Himanshu Bindal, Advocate Mr. Swapnil Gupta, Advocate Mr. Pranshu Goyal, Advocate Mr. Anmol Rai Garg, Advocate and Mr. Harshit Gupta, Advocate for the petitioners.

Mr. Maninderjit Singh Bedi, Senior Advocate Advocate General, Punjab with Ms. Anu Chatrath, Sr. Addl. AG Punjab, Mr. Ferry Sofat, Addl. AG Punjab and Ms. Kavita Joshi, Advocate for the respondents.

ALKA SARIN, J. (Oral)

1. On 17.02.2026 the following order was passed :

“The present revision petition has been filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India impugning the order dated 17.02.2026 (Annexure P-1) passed by the learned Additional District Judge, Jalandhar.

The matter has been listed by orders of Hon’ble the Chief Justice and is being taken up at the Camp Office at 11.15 pm.

The brief facts relevant to the present lis are that the petitioners herein were issued an office letter dated 06.11.2025 rejecting their request for rectification of the alleged violation. Vide the said letter it was once again reiterated that the petitioners should remove the unacceptable construction at their own level within a period of one month. Thereafter the Punjab Unified Building Rules, 2025 were notified on 15.12.2025 wherein for commercial properties, a front set-back of 10% was allowed. The petitioners state that the front set-back left by them is 15.37% as against the requirement of 20.03% for a hotel. The said letter dated 06.11.2025 was thereafter followed up by an order of demolition dated 06.02.2026. The petitioners herein challenged the said order by filing a Civil Writ Petition being CWP-4023-2026 which was dismissed vide order dated 10.02.2026. Challenging the said order dated 10.02.2026, an Letters Patent Appeal was filed being LPA-415-2026 which was disposed off vide order dated 12.02.2026 on the statement of the counsel for the respondents that till 16.02.2026 no precipitative action would be taken so that the petitioner could avail its remedy under Section 269 of the Municipal Corporation Act, 1976. Vide the impugned order dated 17.02.2026 (Annexure P-1) the application for interim relief filed along with the appeal against the demolition order was rejected and the matter has been fixed for arguments on

01.04.2026. Hence, the present petition.

Learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners has contended that the urgency in the matter is that the order passed today by the learned Additional District Judge, was made available to them at about 5:00 pm and a team is already standing outside the premises to demolish the alleged illegal construction. Learned senior counsel would further contend that the building was sealed by the Pollution Control Board and thereafter it is not being used and that the petitioners do not intend to use it as a hotel. The petitioners are wanting to now use the building as a commercial building for which a front set- back of 10% is permissible as per the Punjab Unified Building Rules, 2025 notified on 15.12.2025 though learned senior counsel has pointed that the said Rules itself have been kept in abeyance vide order dated

24.12.2025 passed by this Court in CWP-38742-2025.

Notice of motion, returnable 18.02.2026. The respondents be served through their Standing counsel/Office of Advocate General, Punjab. To be taken up at 2:00 pm.

Meanwhile, no demolition shall be carried out.”

2. Today, learned Advocate General, Punjab alongwith Sr. Additional Advocate General, Punjab state that they would have no objection if the appeal is decided in a time-bound manner and till then they assure the Court that no coercive action would be taken against the petitioners.

3. In view of the very fair statement made by lear