Gujarat High Court: The Bench of Anant S. Dave, ACJ and Biren Vaishnav J., reversed the order of allotment of land to the private entity by Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA).
The Writ was issued against the AUDA for allotting the plot to the private school for sports activities.
It was submitted that plot which has been reserved by AUDA as “Park and Playground” and was kept open for garden and playground for the public in large sanctioned by the government was transferred to the private school. It is pertinent to mention that the school has already occupied the adjacent plot and thus there was no requirement of any other park and playground. The petitioner also questioned the authority of the “Property Allotment and Land Disposal Price Fixing Committee” to approve and recommend allotment of Public Plot to a private body.
The respondent, on the other hand, submitted that the said land was allotted only after completing all the statutory requirements. It was further submitted that few complaints were received by the School regarding the constructions of the fencing etc. which the school had undertaken to abide by such conditions.
The Court after submission made by parties held that the allotment of the plot to the school was against the public policy and rules. The Court further held that, small plots and parks are not spare lands, to be wasted in such a manner but they are small pockets of lungs useful in providing better health and benefits to citizens of the locality and if such an act by authorities such as AUDA is allowed to continue, it would be hazardous to the residents as well as the students of the school itself.”[Ajay Kumar Parshottamdas Trivedi v. Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority, 2019 SCC OnLine Guj 811, Order dated 07-05- 2019]
