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Gurjit Singh (Dead) Through LRs vs. Union Territory, Chandigarh & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 199Decided 3 Mar 2023
Civil Appeal Nos. 4826-4828 of 2022
M.R. Shah · B.V. Nagarathna

Background

The appellant owned a shop in the Agricultural Produce Market, Chandigarh, while another trader (respondent No. 5) was a tenant there and later shifted to a different shop. A dispute arose over which of the two was entitled to use an auction platform located in front of the appellant's shop, after the original shed structure collapsed in 2007 and was rebuilt in 2009 under a new "One Site One Shop" policy. Both the Single Judge and a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled against the appellant, holding that owning a shop does not automatically entitle a person to the adjoining auction platform.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court agreed with the High Court that the right to run a shop and the right to use a market auction platform are legally distinct, and no rule entitled a shopkeeper to the platform simply for being adjacent to his shop. The platform was allotted to respondent No. 5 because he was the one actually doing business on that platform since 1970 (before the shed collapsed), in line with the government's official reconstruction guidelines giving priority to those in possession before the 2007 collapse. Finding no rule or policy supporting the appellant's claim, the Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the allotment made to respondent No. 5.

Lesson Learnt

Ownership of, or a licence for, a shop does not automatically extend to rights over adjacent public infrastructure like a market platform: allotment of such shared facilities is governed by specific administrative policy and prior use, not by mere proximity or shop ownership.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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