No Bar Under Rajasthan Municipalities Act Against Directly Approaching Civil Court For Grievance Redressal That Can Be Agitated Before Municipal Authority: Rajasthan HC
The Rajasthan High Court held that there is no bar under the Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 2009 against directly approaching the Civil Court for redressal of grievances that can be agitated before the Municipal Authority.
The Court was considering a Civil Revision Petition after the Trial Court had refused to reject the plaint under Order VII Rule 11 CPC.
The bench of Justice Birendra Kumar observed, “There is no bar under the Municipal Act against directly approaching Civil Court for redressal of grievance which can be agitated before the authority as well, therefore, this Court is not inclined to interfere with the impugned order.”
Brief Facts-
Gayatri Devi, the plaintiff in the suit, alleged that the Municipal Corporation of Bikaner, listed as defendant, was constructing a multistory building next to her house. She sought to prevent the defendant (petitioner) from opening any windows or making any construction towards her house. If any such construction had already been done, she demanded its removal.
The Court noted that under Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 2009 there is no specific bar of the jurisdiction of Civil Court akin to Section 99 of the Jaipur Development Authority Act, 1982.
The Court mentioned the decision of the Supreme Court in Dr. Ranveer Bose & Anr. Vs. Anita Das & Ors. where a writ petition was filed before the High Court of Calcutta ventilating identical grievance and praying relief in the nature of issuance of mandamus, as per the Court SC held, “if the private respondent before the Supreme Court was aggrieved of the irregularity committed, if any, in the construction raised by the appellants should have approached the municipal authorities and if no proper response was forthcoming, then the Civil Court was appropriate forum for ventilating the grievance of the nature which was raised before the writ court.”
The Court noted that Section 99 of the Jaipur Development Authority Act specifically bars cognizance by a Civil Court unless the issue/remedy which is required, under the Act, to be decided by the authority mentioned under the Act is availed of.
The Court said that in the present case the municipality is already a party and it would have the opportunity to file a written statement which may contain action taken in the matter of grievance of the plaintiff. However, according to the Court, there is no bar to approach the Civil Court under the Act for redressal of the grievance that can be agitated before the authority as well.
Accordingly, the Court dismissed the Revision Petition.
Cause Title: Neeta Kapoor v. Gayatri Devi (Neutral Citation: 2024:RJ-JD:24931)
Appearance:
Adv. Nishank Madhan