HC seeks Municipal Commissioner's reply on illegal structures

Himachal High Court has directed Municipal Commissioner, Shimla to file a reply within six weeks about number of unauthorised structures in bazaar area in Corporation records, with explanation on why each unauthorised structure was not removed within reasonable time.
A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice Kuldip Singh, passed the order on a PIL filed by Neelam Sharma on encroachments in the Lower bazaar and Ganj Bazaar in Shimla.
The court also directed the Municipal Commissioner to personally examine the issue of encroachments as well as the explanation offered by the respective occupants before taking any coercive action and to consider initiating appropriate action against the Corporation officials who failed to take action against unauthorised structures within reasonable time.

The Bench clarified that the pendency of the petition will not be an impediment for the Corporation to take action against unauthorised structures, already identified by the Corporation, in accordance with law and listed the matter for October 28.
Meanwhile, in another case, the High Court directed a Civil Judge to decide maintainability of a suit filed by an encroacher in Lakkar Bazaar area within a week and report compliance.
In this case, the Municipal Corporation, Shimla had moved the High Court challenging the stay granted to the encroacher by the Civil Court on removal of encroachment.
The Corporation told the court that the suit in the Civil Court was not maintainable as the High Court has already directed in Neelam Sharma case that no Civil Court will entertain any proceedings, much less grant any interim relief in respect of the subject matter involved in the writ petition.