PUNE, Dec 2: Public interest litigant Arvind Ghatpande is at it again. This time he has filed separate civil suits against five hotels for allegedly violating the development control norms on the use of basements.The suits have been filed in the court of the civil judge, junior division, looking into cases pertaining to the Pune Municipal Corporation, commonly known as the PMC court against Anil Shirole who runs Hotel Parichay on Ghole Road, Rajesh P Karani and Mahesh Karani who jointly run Hotel Hill View on the road to the; Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce off Fergusson College Road, H S Bedi, who runs Hotel Sher-e-Punjab near the Pune Railway Station, one Shetty, whose full name has not been given, who is stated to be the proprietor of Hotel Ashraya near Laxmi Narayan Theatre and Sathe and Kudale, whose full name also have not been given, who are stated to be directors of Garuda Hotel Pvt Ltd having their business premises on Karve Road in Erandwane.Pune Municipal Corporation, Municipal Commissioner and the City Engineer have been made common defendants in all the five suits. Ghatpande sought the attention of the court to the commercial use of basements and parking spaces by hotels in violation of the development control rules of the PMC and further submitted that the municipal commissioner and the city engineer and the ``have no interest in performing their statutory duties under the Bombay Provintial Municipal Corporation Act, 1949, and that there is no control or supervision over the illegal activities of hoteliers''.As for Hotel Parichay, Ghatpande accuses that the restaurant, Shabari, is running for the past several yers in the parking space of the building, while vehicles of the visitors ``are parked on the main road'' causing ``great obstruction to the traffic''.In case of Hotel Hill View, he accuses that the restaurant, Darya, is situated in the parking space of the building while ``vehicles are parked outside the hotel in the lane,'' which he states, ``is a great nuisance to the passers-by''.Sher-e-Punjab restaurant, he accuses, is being run in the basement of the Alankar Theatre building where commercial use cannot be permitted.Similarly, in case of Hotel Ashraya the restaurant, Apurva, is also run in the basement in violation of the development control rules, according to the plaintiff. As for Hotel Garuda, he alleges that the basement of this building also is being used for commercial purpose.He has sought that there should be a permanent injunction aginst the unauthorised use of the parking spaces or basements and stern action be taken against the municipal authorities for allowing the violation of the development control rules.
