Patna High Court Orders Re-opening of Vishal Mega Mart
Patna: Sept. 27, 2007
Patna High Court on Thursday turned over an earlier directive of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) that shut down Vishal Mega Mart on Frazer Road until further notification in the aftermath of last week's clash between the shop owners and media reporters who had gone there to cover an incident of fire.
Dismissing the claims of the PMC that the shopping complex was built in violation of several city codes including lack of adequate parking facility and law and order problems, a single bench comprising Justice Navniti Prasad Singh said maintaining law and order was the administration's responsibility and traffic jam could be resolved if people followed the parking rules.
Allowing the shopping complex to open again, the court set the next date of hearing for October 30.
The state's case was represented by the Attorney General P. K. Shahi who said that a number of cases related to the construction of Vishal Mega Mart were pending in various courts and it would be inappropriate to allow the owners to operate until all cases were settled.
The defense, however, said that the company paid Rs. 55,000 each month for parking alone and Rs. 9.58 lakh to the builder each month. The PMC acted in haste and never tried to find out the other side of the story, they said.

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