Rohit Kumar Chaudhary vs State Of Uttarakhand & Others

Ramesh Ranganathan, CJ

Heard Mr. Ankit Shah, learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. S.S. Chaudhary, learned Brief Holder appearing for the State of Uttarakhand and Mr. Rahul Consul, learned counsel for the third respondent and, with their consent, the Writ Petition is disposed of at the stage of admission.

This Writ Petition is filed seeking a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to expedite the statutory appeal pending against the demolition order dated 21.02.2019; and, till then, to keep the demolition order in abeyance.

Facts, to the limited extent necessary, are that the petitioner raised construction on the subject land without prior permission for construction; thereafter, a demolition notice dated 12.07.2018 was served on the petitioner by the third respondent, aggrieved by which the petitioner preferred an appeal to the second respondent who, by his order dated 13.08.2018, remanded the matter to the original authority to take a fresh decision after giving the petitioner an opportunity of being heard; thereafter, the third respondent passed a fresh order on 21.02.2019, questioning which the petitioner claims to have preferred an appeal soon after he received a copy of the order directing demolition.

While the date, on which the said appeal was preferred, is not stated in the Writ affidavit, Mr. Ankit Shah, learned counsel for the petitioner, would submit that the appeal was preferred, to the second respondent, on 13.03.2018.

In the order dated 21.02.2019, the third respondent has stated that, despite several opportunities, the petitioner did not appear before him. Mr. Ankit Shah, learned counsel for the petitioner, would dispute this finding, recorded in the order of the third respondent, and would contend that no notice was served on the petitioner.

These are all matters for the Appellate Authority i.e. the second respondent to examine. Instead of keeping the Writ Petition pending on file of this Court, suffice it to dispose of the Writ Petition directing the second respondent to decide the petitioner's appeal with utmost expedition and, in any event, within one month from the date of production of a certified copy of this order.

The Writ Petition is disposed of accordingly. No costs.