ORDER :

1. This order will dispose of two petitions bearing OWP Nos. 494 & 929 of 2018. The petitioners claim that they are tenants in occupation of the shops in the building, which has been ordered to be demolished by the Municipal Corporation, Jammu. The same having been declared unsafe.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners are tenants in various shops on the ground floor of the building, which has been ordered to be demolished by the Municipal Corporation, Jammu, as the same has been declared unsafe. It is a devise adopted by the owner of the building to evict the petitioners, as otherwise he has no other ground on which the petitioners can possibly be evicted. Before issuance of the public notice for demolition of the building, the petitioners were never afforded any opportunity of being heard during the course of the proceedings by the Corporation or any other authority, whereby the building was declared unsafe. Section 258 of the Jammu and Kashmir Municipal Corporation Act, 2000 (for short ‘the Act’) clearly provides that opportunity of being heard has to be afforded to the owner and the occupier. Indisputedly, the petitioners are the occupiers