Waiver of statutory notice protection bars reopening a final town planning scheme and eviction challenge

A procedural notice requirement under the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Act and Rules, framed for a private party's protection, may be waived by conduct. Because the appellant objected to the draft scheme but did not pursue those objections, and also failed to raise any claim during the re-allotment process, he was treated as having allowed the scheme to attain finality. Even if additional notice was assumed to be required, it could not be invoked to reopen a concluded scheme or unsettle rights already crystallised under it. Relief was therefore denied and the challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether the appellant, after failing to pursue objections to the draft town planning scheme and after not participating in the re-allotment proceedings, could still insist on a special notice and obtain relief against the final allotment and eviction action.

Analysis: The statutory scheme under the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Act, 1976 and the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Rules, 1979 required objections and claims to be raised at the appropriate stage when notices were issued in the prescribed form. The appellant had objected to the draft scheme but did not pursue it, and he did not raise any objection or claim during the re-allotment proceedings. Even assuming that a further notice ought to have been served, the benefit of such notice was one intended for the appellant's protection and did not involve any overriding public interest. A party who knowingly allows the scheme to attain finality and stands by while rights are crystallised may be taken to have waived the protection available to him. In such circumstances, the appellant could not reopen the final scheme in a public law challenge or seek to unsettle the rights already allotted under the scheme.

Conclusion: The appellant had waived the right to insist on further notice and was not entitled to relief; the challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory procedural protection enacted for the benefit of a private party, and not involving public interest, may be waived by conduct, and once the party permits the statutory process to attain finality without timely objection, equitable relief cannot be claimed to unsettle the concluded scheme.

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