Physical hearing of case in Punjab and Haryana High Court tomorrow

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 20

Nearly five years after the brick-by-brick demolition of the city’s glorious past with the rising of apartments from the debris of palatial houses came under the judicial scanner, one of the issues that cropped up for deliberation before the Punjab and Haryana High Court was if tenants can live on different floors, why not landlords.

Floor-wise sale of houses in city

One of the issues that has cropped up for deliberation before the Punjab and Haryana High Court is that if tenants can live on different floors, why not landlords.

As the case came up for resumed hearing before the Bench of Justice Tejinder Singh Dhindsa and Justice Vivek Puri today, the discussions hovered around the fact that the first and second floors of a house could be leased out. If there could be tenants on different floors, there could be landlords as well. The case will now come up for further hearing on Wednesday, when the matter will be held through physical hearing.

The Bench of Justice Tejinder Singh Dhindsa and Justice Vivek Puri had earlier scanned newspaper advertisements to find out whether floor-wise sale of dwelling units was contemplated. Finding no less than two dozen such advertisements in the newspaper’s Sunday edition, the Bench had not only rapped the UT Administration, but also directed the holding of the exercise under the UT Chief Architect’s supervision.

The Bench had observed it thought of scanning the advertisements as the court was seized of the matter and discovered 24 advertisements in the Sunday edition “scouting for purchasers /investors for separate floors/independent floors”.

Reproducing the advertisements, the Bench added that it lent credence to the petitioner-residents’ welfare association that independent floors were being sold under the garb of sale of a certain percentage share of a residential unit.