Public road occupation without statutory authority is ultra vires; municipal permission for daily vending on a roadway was invalid.

A municipal body cannot license or lease portions of an existing public road for regular commercial occupation without express statutory authority. The Bengal Municipal Act, 1884 permitted disposal of road land only where the road had been permanently closed or diverted and was no longer required as a roadway; it did not cover a live public thoroughfare. Its temporary permission provision applied only to limited uses such as depositing movable property or making excavations, not to establishing a daily market on the roadway. The Municipality's action was therefore ultra vires, and declaratory and injunctive relief against it was affirmed.

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Issues: Whether the Municipality had authority under the Bengal Municipal Act, 1884 to grant licences or leases permitting shopkeepers to occupy portions of a public road for daily vending, and whether such action was intra vires.

Analysis: The road remained a public thoroughfare and had not been permanently closed or diverted, so the land had not ceased to be a roadway. Section 34 of the Bengal Municipal Act, 1884, which permits sale, lease, exchange or disposal of land not required for municipal purposes, applies only where the road has been permanently closed or diverted and the land is no longer used as a road. Section 234 of the Bengal Municipal Act, 1884 is concerned with temporary permissions for depositing movable property, making excavations, or enclosing road portions for limited purposes, and does not authorise the Municipality to establish a regular daily market on a part of the roadway. As a statutory corporation, the Municipality could act only within powers conferred by statute, and no provision empowered it to allow day-to-day commercial occupation of a public thoroughfare.

Conclusion: The Municipality's action was ultra vires, and the plaintiff was entitled to the declaration and injunction sought.

Final Conclusion: The appellate decree was set aside and the trial court decree restoring declaratory and injunctive relief against the Municipality stood affirmed with minor modification.

Ratio Decidendi: A municipal body cannot, in the absence of express statutory authority, license or lease portions of an existing public thoroughfare for regular commercial occupation; powers to deal with road land arise only when the road has been validly diverted or the occupation is strictly within the temporary purposes authorised by statute.

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