13.07.2026 Ct. 3 Item No. AD 25 Saswata WPA 612 of 2026 Santosh Kumar Rout Versus The State of West Bengal & Ors. Mr. Niraj Kumar Singh Ms. Priyanka Sen …For the petitioner Mr. Ayan Banerjee Ms. Debasree Dhamali …For the HMC 1. Affidavit of service filed in Court today is retained with the record. 2. Complaining illegal construction at holding no. 24, Thakur Ramkrishna Lane, P.O. Belur Math, P.S. Belur, Howrah – 711202 and failure on the part of the municipal authorities to take adequate steps to arrest illegal construction, the instant writ petition has been filed. 3. The learned advocate appearing for the petitioner submits that at the time of filing of the writ petition, though the construction was raised up to G+IV storey, during pendency of the writ petition an additional storey has been constructed. The matter was taken up previously, on 18th May 2026 since, the respondent nos. 5, 6 and 7 being the person responsible and the municipality had not appeared, the matter had been adjourned to provide one more opportunity to the respondents to appear. 2 4. Today, the municipality is represented. Mr. Banerjee, learned advocate appearing for the Municipality on instructions submits that a plan was sanctioned for construction of a G+II storied building. Since, the municipality detected illegal construction, a stop work notice under Section 220 of the West Bengal Municipal Act, 1993 (hereinafter referred to as the said Act) was issued on 13th December 2024. Despite such notice, since the person responsible did not stop the work, a police intimation was given and an FIR was lodged. Records disclosed before this Court in the form of a note sheet along with the copies of the notices would demonstrate that the municipality has been taking steps and has already issued a hearing notice, though such hearing notice does not identify that such proceedings have been initiated against Section 218 of the said Act. 5. Having heard the learned advocates appearing for the respective parties and noting prima facie that an illegal construction has taken place, I am of the view that without waiting for a decision of the municipality, the writ petition can be disposed of by directing the municipal authorities to take adequate steps in relation to the alleged unauthorized construction by issuing appropriate notice under Section 218 of the said Act, unless the same has already been issued. 6. The municipal authorities must ensure that no further construction should take place at the locale and for the said purpose, the Officer-in-charge of 3 jurisdictional police station is directed to render all assistance to the municipality. The municipal authorities as also the concerned officer in charge of the jurisdictional police station is directed to ensure that the aforesaid premises remains unoccupied and status quo as is prevailing, be maintained till final decision is reached by the municipal authorities in the proceeding to be initiated, if not already initiated under Section 218 of the said Act. 7. It is expected that the municipal authorities shall bring the proceedings to a logical conclusion on expeditious basis preferably within a period of 16 weeks from the date of communication of this order in accordance with law. 8. The bunch of documents as relied on by the municipality is retained with the record. 9. With the above observation and direction, the writ petition is disposed of. 10. Since, no affidavit is called for, the allegations made in the writ petition are deemed not to have been admitted by the respondents. 11. All parties shall act on the basis of server copy of this order duly downloaded from this Court’s official website. (Raja Basu Chowdhury, J.)