Page No.# 1/6 GAHC010122712026 2026:GAU-AS:8917 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : WP(C)/3208/2026 BRIKENDRA BASUMATARY ALIAS BIKENDRA BASUMATARY S/O- LATE HIRANYA BASUMATARY, PERMANENT RESIDENT OF VILL.- RAMANPARA, KOKRAJHAR, P.O., P.S. AND DIST. KOKRAJHAR, B.T.C, ASSAM, PIN- 783370. VERSUS THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 4 ORS REPRESENTED BY THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM, DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS, DISPUR, GUWAHATI -6. 2:THE GUWAHATI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION BETKUCHI GUWAHATI- 781036. 3:THE COMMISSIONER GUWAHATI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION BETKUCHI GUWAHATI- 781036. 4:THE ASSISTANT TOWN PLANNER GUWAHATI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION BETKUCHI GUWAHATI- 781036. 5:HRIKESH DAS HOUSE NO. 2 JAYANAGAR SIXMILE GUWAHATI KAMRUP METRO Page No.# 2/6 Advocate for the Petitioner : J U AHMED, MR. R K MUSHAHARY,MR. N K MURRY Advocate for the Respondent : SC, GMC, GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY ORDER Date : 19-06-2026 Heard Mr. J.U. Ahmed, learned counsel for the petitioner; and Mr. S. Bora, learned Standing Counsel, Housing and Urban Affairs Department & GMC for all the respondents. 2. The case projected by the petitioner, in brief, is that he is the owner of a plot of land measuring 12 Lessas and he is in its continuous possession. The plot of land, covered by Dag no. 2469 & K.P. Patta no. 828, is situated at Village – Dwrandha, Lot no. 12, Mouza – Beltola, Dispur Revenue Circle, Kamrup Metropolitan District, Assam [‘the subject-plot’, for short]. The petitioner has stated that he applied for issuance of a No Objection Certificate for construction of a RCC Building over the subject-plot before the respondent Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority [GMDA] on 12.01.2022 and after consideration of application, the respondent GMDA issued a Planning Permit on 12.01.2022 for construction of a RCC Building on the subject-plot under Section 5, Guwahati Building Construction & Regulation Bye-Laws, 2014, read with Section 14 of the Guwahati Building Construction [Regulation] Act, 2010, as per the particulars mentioned therein. A No Objection Certificate [NOC] for construction was also issued in favour of the petitioner on 12.01.2022. On the Page No.# 3/6 basis of another application dated 27.12.2022 for a Planning Permit, the respondent GMDA issued another Planning Permit and a NOC for construction on 27.12.2022, as per the terms and conditions laid down therein. 3. On the basis of the Planning Permits and No Objection Certificates, the petitioner constructed one RCC Building [G+2] on the subject-plot. The petitioner has stated that after construction of the RCC Building as per the Planning Permits and the NOCs, the petitioner applied for an Occupancy Certificate on 06.03.2026 before the respondent Guwahati Municipal Corporation [GMC]. 4. As the Occupancy Certificate so applied for, was not issued by the respondent GMC for a considerable period of time, the petitioner visited the office of the respondent no. 3 in the first week of June, 2026 for knowing about the status of his application for the Occupancy Certificate. On such visit, the petitioner came to learn that the respondent GMC had issued a Letter dated 03.10.2025 whereby, on the basis of a complaint received from the respondent no. 4, the petitioner was stated to be put on notice to submit the copies of the NOCs, Approved Plans, up-to-date Property Tax Payment receipts, etc. as regards the RCC Building [G+2] constructed by the petitioner on the subject- plot. In the complaint it was alleged that the construction made by the petitioner on the subject-plot was an illegal construction. The petitioner also came to learn that based on the Letter dated 03.10.2025 of the respondent no. 4, a Notice was also issued by the respondent no. 3 on 22.01.2026 purportedly in exercise of powers under Section 337[1]&[2] of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation Act, 1971. In the notice, it was mentioned that the petitioner had Page No.# 4/6 constructed a commercial Building [RCC G+3] with deviations, mentioned therein, and the same had been found to be in violation of the provisions contained in the GMC Act, 1971 and the Building Bye-Laws framed thereunder. By the notice, the petitioner as a noticee was directed to remove or pull-down the undertaken works of erection or re-erection of the Building on the subject- plot forthwith at his cost or to show cause within seven days as to why unauthorized construction / deviation should not be demolished. 5. The petitioner has contended that neither the Letter dated 03.10.2025 of the respondent no. 4, nor the Notice dated 22.01.2026 of the respondent no. 3, had been served upon the petitioner at any point of time. It is canvassed that had any of the said two Letters / Notice been served upon the petitioner, the petitioner would have responded to them as he is in possession of all the requisite documents like Planning Permits, NOCs, etc., for construction of the RCC Building on the subject-plot and had those documents been allowed to be submitted by the petitioner, there would have been no occasion for the respondent authorities in the GMC to issue the Letter dated 03.10.2025 and/or the Notice dated 22.01.2026. With the above projections, the petitioner has sought for a direction to the respondent authorities in the GMC to allow him to respond to the Notice dated 22.01.2026 by granting him a reasonable period of time to submit his Reply along with the supporting documents. 6. In response, Mr. Bora, learned Standing Counsel, Housing and Urban Affairs Department & GMC has submitted that it cannot be conceived that the petitioner did not receive the Letter dated 03.01.2025 and the Notice dated 22.01.2026. He has fairly submitted that notwithstanding the above claim of the Page No.# 5/6 petitioner, the petitioner can be allowed an opportunity to submit his reply in response to the Notice dated 22.01.2026 along with all the supporting documents the petitioner is stated to be in possession considering the limited nature of relief sought for by the petitioner to submit a reply with the projection he has all the necessary documents for construction of the RCC Building on the subject-plot. He has submitted that a period of not more than ten days be granted to the petitioner to submit such reply. 7. In response, Mr. Ahmed has submitted that the petitioner is in a position to submit a reply along with all the supporting documents against the Notice dated 22.01.2026 within a period of ten days from today before the respondent no. 3. 8. Considering that the petitioner has canvassed that at no point of time he has received the Letter dated 03.10.2025 and the Notice dated 22.01.2026 and the projection he has made that he has all the necessary permissions like Planning Permits, NOCs, etc. for construction of the RCC Building on the subject-plot, this Court in view of the broad consensus arrived at by the learned counsel for the parties, in the afore-stated manner, is of the considered view that the petitioner deserves to be granted an opportunity to submit a reply to the Notice dated 22.01.2026 and the same will sub-serve the ends of justice. In that view of the matter, this writ petition is disposed of allowing the petitioner to submit a reply in response to the Notice dated 22.01.2026 along with all the supporting documents within a period of ten days from today at the office of the respondent no. 3. It is observed that in the event such a reply is submitted by the petitioner within a period of ten days from today, the respondent no. 3 shall Page No.# 6/6 take the reply on board and consider qua the Notice dated 22.01.2026 and after consideration, shall pass a speaking order thereon as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of one month from the date of receipt of such reply. It is further observed that the Notice dated 22.01.2026 will abide by the speaking order to be passed by the respondent no. 3 on the reply submitted by the petitioner. 9. This order disposes of the writ petition. No cost. JUDGE Comparing Assistant