Court No. - 34
Case :- PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL) No. - 908 of 2019 Petitioner :- Ram Ugrah Singh Respondent :- Union Of India And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Ashish Kumar Srivastava Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I.,Satish Kumar Rai, Ravi Prakash Srivastava
Hon'ble Sudhir Agarwal,J. Hon'ble Rajendra Kumar-IV,J.
1. Heard Sri Navin Sinha, learned Senior Advocate for petitioner, Sri Ravi Prakash Srivastava, Advocate for Respondents-1 and 3 and Sri Satish Kumar Rai, Advocate for Respondent-2.
2. This writ petition has been filed as a Public Interest Litigation under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, pointing out that a public open land belong to Cantonment Board in the Category of 'C' is sought to be utilized for commercial purposes by auctioning the same for the purpose of it being used by commercial establishments. It is said that such land cannot be used for commercial purposes and this act of Cantonment Board is wholly illegal, unauthorized and also against public interest.
3. Despite repeated query, Sri Satish Kumar Rai, Advocate appearing for Cantonment Board, could not show any provision under which Category 'C' land can be utilized by Cantonment Board for commercial purposes. He, however, placed reliance on Sections 64 and 122 of Cantonment Act, 1924 but having gone through the same we find that the same have no application to the issue involved in present writ petition.
4. In view thereof, in our view, this matter needs to be examined at higher level of Government of India since land of Cantonment Board is owned by Government of India and Cantonment Board is only managing the same.
5. Therefore, looking to the facts and circumstances of case, we dispose of this writ petition finally directing Secretary, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi-Respondent 1, to look into the matter, get appropriate inquiry conducted by a Committee headed by an officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence and pursuant to said inquiry if any violation on the part of Cantonment Board is found, take appropriate action against concerned official(s) of Cantonment Board and thereafter submit a compliance report within one week after expiry of two months from today.
Order Date :- 26.4.2019 AK