Submit tehbazari amount details, HC tells MC

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 18

In the case pertaining to alleged encroachments at Chaura Bazaar, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the local Municipal Corporation (MC) to place on record the details of amounts recovered as ‘Tehbazari’ from the shopkeepers.

The MC claimed that the shopkeepers of Chaura Bazaar were allowed to raise ‘tharas’ in front of their shops. However, the petitioner alleged that the shopkeepers had raised encroachments by extending their shops.

“The MC, Ludhiana, is directed to place on record the amounts recovered as ‘Tehbazari’ from the shopkeepers of ‘Chaura Bazaar’, who were permitted to raise ‘tharas’ pursuant to the resolution dated August 16, 1972, passed by the then Municipal Committee, Ludhiana, under Section 172 of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911, apart from justifying the use of provision of the said section for permitting to raise permanent structures, so as to extend the building line of the shops,” the court order reads. The court gave these orders during the hearing of a contempt petition - COCP 27 of 2016 on July 16. The next hearing has been fixed for November 21.

Earlier, a contempt petition was filed by Rohit Sabharwal of the Council of RTI Activists against the civic body for failing to remove encroachments in the city as per the directions of the court. 

On November 2016, the Local Bodies Department had rejected a resolution to regularise the encroachments on 2.6 feet area in front of shops at Chaura Bazaar. On the request of politicians, the Municipal Commissioner had in December 2017 sent the request application for review as MC House was not in existence. But, the application was rejected.

When the sixth House of the MC was formed, Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu had also announced that they would send a fresh resolution, seeking regularisation of the ‘encroachments’. The petitioner, Rohit Sabharwal claimed that the shopkeepers had encroached upon the land in front of their shops. He has sought from the local Bodies Department to reject the resolution to regularise the encroachments.

The court order

The MC, Ludhiana, is directed to place on record the amounts recovered as ‘Tehbazari’ from the shopkeepers of ‘Chaura Bazaar’, who were permitted to raise ‘tharas’ pursuant to the resolution dated August 16, 1972, passed by the then Municipal Committee, Ludhiana, under Section 172 of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911, apart from justifying the use of provision of the said section for permitting to raise permanent structures, so as to extend the building line of the shops,