REPLY AND REPRESENTATION AGAINST A SHOW CAUSE NOTICE FOR ALLEGED MISUSE OF A SITE OR BUILDING
(Filed in answer to a notice issued under __________)
To
__________
__________
Date: __________
Place: __________
Sir / Madam,
The Noticee respectfully submits this reply and representation to the show cause notice described above, which was received on __________, and states as follows. This reply is filed without prejudice. Nothing in it is to be read as an admission that any misuse of the Property has occurred or subsists, and every allegation contained in the notice which is not expressly admitted below is denied.
PART I — THE NOTICEE AND THE PROPERTY
PART II — THE NOTICE TO WHICH THIS IS A REPLY
6. The notice. Show Cause Notice No. __________ dated __________, issued under __________, was received by the Noticee on __________. This reply is filed within the period allowed by the notice, and the Noticee prays that it be taken on the record of the file and considered before any order is made.
PART III — PRELIMINARY SUBMISSIONS
9. What Rule 10 requires this Office to do. Rule 10(i) of the Chandigarh Estate Rules, 2007 provides that when a misuse of a site or building under Rule 9 is reported or comes to the notice of the Estate Officer, a notice of a period of not less than fifteen days shall be served on the allottee or lessee and on the occupier requiring that they shall, within a period of two months, remove the said misuse and pay monthly charges at Rs. 500 per square foot of the area under misuse, jointly and severally, for every month or part of a month during which the misuse occurs. Rule 10(ii) requires this Office, after affording an opportunity of being heard to the allottee or lessee and to the occupier, to determine whether or not the misuse has been removed. Rule 10(iii) permits recourse to section 8-A of the Act only if, after the expiry of two months from the notice, and after a further opportunity of being heard, the Estate Officer is satisfied that the misuse continues. Rule 10(iv) allows the period for removal to be extended beyond two months and up to six months where the misuse is on the part of the occupier, or where it cannot be removed unless certain acts are done by the occupier. Rule 10(v) makes established misuse charges payable within fifteen days of the order, with interest at one and a half per cent for each month of delay or part of it. The Noticee respectfully submits that each of those steps is a condition of a valid order, and that the opportunity of being heard which Rules 10(ii) and 10(iii) require is a hearing on the question whether misuse exists at all, and not merely on the amount.
10. Resumption and forfeiture under section 8-A of the Act. Whatever else the notice invokes, resumption is a last resort. Rule 10(iii) of the Chandigarh Estate Rules, 2007 permits recourse to section 8-A only after the expiry of two months from the notice, only after a further opportunity of being heard, and only on recorded satisfaction that the misuse continues. Should this Office at any stage propose to proceed to the resumption of the Property or to the forfeiture of any money, the Noticee asks to be told so distinctly and to be heard separately on that question.
PART IV — REPLY ON THE FACTS
PART V — PRAYER
22. In the premises, the Noticee respectfully prays that this Office may be pleased to:
(a) take this reply on the record of the file and consider it, together with the documents filed with it, before any order is made;
(b) hold that no misuse of the Property within the meaning of Rule 9 read with Rule 10 of the Chandigarh Estate Rules, 2007 is established, and discharge Show Cause Notice No. __________ dated __________;
(c) in the alternative, and without prejudice, determine under the Explanation to Rule 10(i) on whose part the use complained of arises, and determine under Rule 10(ii), after hearing, whether it has been removed and the exact area and period by reference to which any charge is computed;
(f) not proceed under section 8-A of the Capital of Punjab (Development and Regulation) Act, 1952 to the resumption of the Property or to the forfeiture of any money without a separate notice and a separate opportunity of being heard on that question, no ground for such a course existing; and
(g) pass such further or other order as the facts of the case and the justice of the matter require.
PART VI — UNDERTAKINGS AND RESERVATION
23. Undertakings. The Noticee undertakes:
(a) to abide by the purpose for which the Property was allotted, as recorded in the allotment letter, and not to put the Property or any part of it to a use other than that purpose except with the written permission of the competent authority;
(b) to remove, within the period allowed by Rule 10 of the Chandigarh Estate Rules, 2007 or within such further period as this Office may allow under Rule 10(iv), anything which this Office determines, after hearing the Noticee, to be a misuse;
(c) to give access to the Property for inspection at any reasonable time on notice, and to produce the original of every document copies of which are filed with this reply; and
(d) to pay any amount finally determined to be lawfully due, within the fifteen days allowed by Rule 10(v), without prejudice to any appeal.
24. Reservation. The Noticee reserves the right to appeal to the Chief Administrator, Union Territory, Chandigarh within thirty days of the communication of any order made in this matter, under section 10 of the Capital of Punjab (Development and Regulation) Act, 1952 and Rule 18 of the Chandigarh Estate Rules, 2007, and thereafter to seek revision within thirty days — to the Adviser to the Administrator, Union Territory, Chandigarh under Rule 18(iv) against an order made under the said Rules, and to the Central Government under section 10(4) of the said Act against an order made under sections 8 and 8-A of it. The Noticee also reserves the right to file a further or supplementary reply if any material relied upon in the notice is supplied after the date of this reply.
VERIFICATION
SIGNED
ANNEXURE A1 — AFFIDAVIT OF THE NOTICEE IN SUPPORT OF THE REPLY
(To be sworn on non-judicial stamp paper of the denomination current at the vendor's counter, before a Notary Public or an Oath Commissioner)
BEFORE __________
AFFIDAVIT
- 6. That the contents of paragraphs 1 to 24 of the accompanying reply are true to my knowledge, save as to those matters stated on information received and believed to be true, and that nothing material has been concealed.
DEPONENT
VERIFICATION: Verified at __________ on __________ that the contents of the above affidavit are true and correct to my knowledge, that no part of it is false and that nothing material has been concealed.
DEPONENT
SCHEDULE — THE PROPERTY
LIST OF ENCLOSURES
A document already forming part of the record of this Office need not be produced again. Subject to that, the following are enclosed:
FOR OFFICE USE — ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT
Diary No. _____________ Date of receipt _____________ Number of pages received _____________
Next date fixed in the matter _____________________
___________________________
Signature and stamp of the receiving official