- (1.) The writ petitioner inherited the property being premises No. 8C, Srimanta De Lane, Calcutta-12 along with others after the death of his father and duly mutated the names of the incoming heirs in the books and Registers of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation. It is stated that sometime in the Bengali year 1353 the Deity of Sri Sri Sati Mata was installed in the premises on the top floor of the said premises. The room or Takur Ghar had a roof of tiles and asbestos shed and the same was repaired from time to time. A permanent roof was constructed for the said Takur Ghar sometime in 1985. In or about 1989, some persons came to the premises in question representing themselves as the Inspecting Staff of Calcutta Municipal Corporation and on their instructions the room was shown to them. Thereafter the petitioner was served with a Notice under S. 400 of the C. M.C. Act, 1980. A copy of the said notice is annexed with the writ petition and marked Annexure- "C". The petitioner after enquiry at the office of the C. M.C. finally appeared before the Officer on Special Duty (Building) who did not offer any opportunity to make any representation in writing nor gave any copy of the inspection report., The petitioner simply stated before him that the Temple was there for a long time but the roof was recently constructed. No enquiry was made as to the age of the wall or the nature of construction of the roof but the said Special Officer ordered demolition of the roof and the walls by his order dated 2/03/1990. It was subsequently approved by the Municipal Commissioner without further opportunity being given to the petitioner. A copy of the said order has been annexed to the writ petition and marked Annexure- "D". The said order of demolition was passed without giving a proper opportunity of being heard to the petitioner. The petitioner preferred an appeal before the Learned Municipal Building Tribunal, respondent No. 3 challenging the said order of demolition marked Annexure- "D" and the said appeal being Appeal No. 76 / 909l was dismissed by the impugned judgment and order dated 26/09/1994. A copy of the said impugned judgment has been annexed with the writ petition and marked as Annexure- "F". It was alleged, inter alia, by the appellants that the order was passed by the Special Officer being biased at the instance of the Deputy City Architect, the City Architect and the Deputy Municipal Commissioner of Calcutta Corporation but the Learned Tribunal proceeded on the basis of the inspection report and found that the construction was made in violation of the Municipal Building Rules and therefore it did not entertain the appeal.
(2.) Being aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment of the Municipal Building Tribunal the writ petitioner has come before this Court alleging that the impugned demolition order is violative of the principles of natural justice and that the impugned order has been passed without any material on records and that the order is otherwise bad, illegal and arbitrary being passed in colourable exercise of powers in violation of natural justice principles.
(3.) The writ application is hotly contested.;