Town planning scheme violations cannot be cured by expenditure or estoppel when municipal approval exceeds statutory power.

A municipal resolution approving conversion of a residential building into a cinema theatre was invalid because it contravened the applicable town planning scheme and exceeded municipal powers; a local body cannot override or modify a statutory planning restriction. The Court also held that residents of the area had sufficient legal and special interest to challenge the resolution, and that illegality could not be cured by acquiescence, expenditure, or estoppel. The resolution was liable to be quashed, and the challenge was maintainable.

---

---

Issues: Whether the municipal resolution approving conversion of a residential building into a cinema theatre, in violation of the applicable town planning scheme, could be sustained notwithstanding expenditure allegedly incurred by the proposed licensee, and whether the appellant had standing to challenge it.

Analysis: The approval was found to be beyond the municipality's powers because the building had earlier been permitted only as a Kalyana Mantap-cum-Lecture Hall, the town planning scheme restricted cinema use in the locality, and the municipality could not override or modify the scheme. The Court held that residents of the area had a sufficient legal and special interest to compel compliance with the statutory scheme, and that illegality could not be cured by acquiescence, expenditure, or estoppel. The resolution had no legal foundation, and the fact that money might have been spent did not validate an act done in excess of statutory authority.

Conclusion: The impugned municipal resolution was illegal and liable to be quashed, and the challenge by the appellant was maintainable.

---