- (1.) By consent of the parties, both the appeals are treated as on day's list and taken up for consideration along with the respective applications for stay and disposed of as follows:- Both the appeals have arisen out of a judgment and order dated 29th January, 2016, passed by the learned Single Judge in WP 26113 (W) of 2015. One of the appeals has been preferred by Birnagar Municipality & Ors. The other appeal has been preferred by the Chairman of the said municipality, in person.
(2.) The respondents in both the appeals, Rakesh Kumar Das & Ors., were the writ petitioners before the learned Single Judge. Even a bare perusal of the impugned order dated 29th January, 2016, reveals that the learned Single Judge proceeded to dispose of the writ petition which was mentioned on the ground of urgency without even giving any reason as to why the Municipality as well as its Chairman's prayer for using an affidavit in order to deal with the allegations levelled by the writ petitioners, were not required to be acceded to. This Court is of the view that in the facts and circumstances of the instant case, especially because of the kind of allegations levelled against the Birnagar Municipality as well as its Chairman, the learned Single Judge ought to have allowed the concerned respondents to use affidavits prior to coming to a conclusion. Without having done so, it appears that the learned Single Judge proceeded to dispose of the writ petition by issuing a mandatory order directing the municipal authorities to sanction the building plan submitted to it by the writ petitioners within a certain time-frame as stipulated in the order impugned.
(3.) The writ Court, exercising its high prerogative jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, can issue a writ of certiorari. In other words, public/statutory records can be directed to be placed before the writ Court for effective adjudication in the facts of a given case. In the instant case, as observed hereinbefore, since the allegations have been levelled against Birnagar Municipality as well as its Chairman, in all fairness, the writ Court ought to have allowed the prayer made on behalf of the Municipality as well as its Chairman to use their respective affidavits in the matter or could have directed production of records. The learned Single Judge, having proceeded to finally adjudicate the issue without even calling for the records to be produced or allowing affidavits to be exchanged, appears to have lost sight of this aspect totally. As such, the writ petition is required to be remanded before the learned Single Judge upon setting aside the impugned judgment and order dated 29th January, 2016, which is, accordingly, set aside.;