Judgment Intelligence
Petition DismissedBhanwar Lal Bhadiyar v. Union of India & Ors.
S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 3401/2023
- Court
- Rajasthan High Court
- Date of Decision
- 17 July 2023
- Bench
- Dr. Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati
- Relevant Acts & Sections
- Constitution of India — Article 226
Final Outcome
The writ petition was dismissed: the Court found it not a fit case to grant any relief against the notices of 12.02.2023, 18.02.2023 and 20.02.2023. All pending applications were disposed of (paras 12, 13).
Key holdings
- The Ministry of Defence guidelines of 18.05.2011, in force when the patta and approval were issued, governed the case; the 2016 ten-metre rule had been scrapped (paras 7, 8).
- An NOC that requires separate clearance from any other Defence Establishment nearby does not help a builder who has not obtained that clearance (para 9).
- Construction within 40 metres of a Defence Establishment would compromise confidential and secret defence data and cannot be permitted (para 10).
- Restrictions around Defence Establishments cannot be breached on the basis of local urban laws; defence experts' parameters govern their vicinity (para 11).
Case explainer by NyayVidhan: an account of this judgment and the law it laid down, not the court's text. The judgment itself is the authoritative version.
Brief Facts
The petitioner bought a plot in 2021; the Jodhpur Development Authority (JDA) issued him a freehold patta on 21.06.2022, approved his site plan and granted construction permission (para 2). On 12.02.2023 a military notice warned him against building near the Defence area; on 18.02.2023 the military asked the JDA to restrain him, and on 20.02.2023 the JDA told him to stop work (para 2). He argued that the 2016 Ministry of Defence guidelines restricted only a 10-metre zone, that the 23.12.2022 extension to 50 metres could not apply retrospectively, and that he had received an NOC dated 28.06.2023 (para 3). The Union replied that the construction was 40 metres from the establishment and that the 2011 guidelines applied (para 4).
Court's Findings
The petitioner paid no heed to the military notice of 12.02.2023, which led to the notices of 18.02.2023 and 20.02.2023 (para 6). Although he held a JDA patta, his plot is 40 metres from the Defence Establishment, and when the patta and the construction approval were issued, the Ministry of Defence guidelines of 18.05.2011 were in force; under them the Station Commander, if the next higher authority agrees, may object to construction within 100 metres that can be a security hazard (para 7). The 2016 guidelines with their 10-metre zone, on which he relied, had been scrapped by the State's order of 24.02.2020, issued in pursuance of a Division Bench order, and by a 2021 letter and circular (para 8). With the 2022 guidelines in abeyance, the 2011 guidelines were made applicable again on 21.03.2023; the NOC he received required separate clearance from any other Defence Establishment in the vicinity, which he had yet to obtain (para 9). Construction within 40 metres would compromise confidential and secret defence data and cannot be permitted (para 10). The State may impose strategic restrictions around Defence Establishments, which cannot be breached on the basis of local urban laws (para 11).
Legal Principle
A municipal patta and building permission do not exempt construction near a Defence Establishment from the Ministry of Defence's security guidelines. The State may impose strategic restrictions around such establishments, and their vicinity is governed by the parameters revised by defence experts, over and above urban and municipal laws (paras 10, 11).
Precedents Relied Upon
- Union of India & Anr. v. State of Rajasthan & Ors. D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 9389/2019, decided on 28.05.2019 (Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur Bench)
Relied on by the petitioner's counsel; the Court noted that the State's order of 24.02.2020 scrapping the 2016 Ministry of Defence NOC guidelines was issued in pursuance of the orders passed in this case.