Patna HC orders administration to chalk out plan to remove encroachment around Patna junction flyover
3 min readPATNA: The Patna high court on Friday ordered the Patna district magistrate (DM), senior superintendent of police (SSP) and commissioner of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) to hold a meeting together and chalk out plan to remove all types of encroachment below and around the flyover near Patna railway junction.
The division bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad ordered the authorities to submit the plan prepared after the meeting within two weeks before the high court.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Ravindra Kumar Karn.
The court, while hearing the matter, also ordered the authorities to appraise the court of what action was taken till date to get rid of the encroachments.
“Prima facie, we found the petitioner’s allegations that encroachers are mushrooming under and around the flyover near the Patna junction day by day and some of them have also constructed small godowns in the said area, to be true,” the court observed during the hearing.
“The encroachment has led to congestion of traffic too,” the court said, adding, it would be forced to issue judicial notice to authorities on the facts at the ground if situation remained same.
Expedite process appointing chairman for BHRC
The division bench, while hearing another PIL, ordered the state government to expedite the process for appointment of chairman of Bihar Human Rights Commission (BHRC) and against vacancies in other constitutional and statutory bodies, board, corporation, council, commission and other executive institutions in the state which were lying vacant for last several months.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by Nagrik Adhikar Manch in which it gave three weeks’ time to state government to file a counter affidavit on the issue indicating developments had took place till now in making the appointments.
Manch’s counsel Dinu Kumar said that such was the situation that position of chairman for BHRC was lying vacant since November 2, 2016 and government have not been able to fill it yet.
PMC official summoned
Annoyed with PMC and state government’s failure to file reply even after four weeks, the Patna high court on Friday summoned officer in-charge of PMC and state government, who were looking after the matter of illegal small scale iron chest and almirah manufacturing factories in Sultanganj and Alamganj area.
The high court, in the last hearing on PILs filed by Salimullah and Saroj Kumar which took place on June 20, had ordered state government and PMC to file counter affidavits within four weeks’ time that if the area where factories are functional, falls under commercial or residential category in the master plan to Patna and what action government intends to take if such activities were not permissible in the area.
The Bihar State Pollution Control Board, in its affidavit submitted earlier, had mentioned 94 factories were functional in the area and were creating noise and air pollution. The court of Patna City SDM on September 29, 2017, had issued orders that either owners remove their factories by themselves or shift it far from densely populated residential areas as they were resulting ailments to common people, public nuisance and pollution in the area.
The officials would have to remain present before court with reply on August 13. The petitioners were represented by Sweta Pandey, Manisha Pandey and Deepak Kumar.
Courtesy: TNN
