BusinessHigh Court grants urgent hearing in land development disputeThe judge ordered that the review of the issuing of the permit be set down urgently. The respondents consented to…

Harare High Court will urgently hear a case in which Trauma Centre Hospital and a resident are seeking to stop Condev Property Developers from constructing expansive office buildings in the residential area of Borrowdale The parties consented to the matter being placed on the urgent roll before Justice Rogers Manyangadze Vislink (Private) Limited trading as Trauma Centre Hospital and , Panelope Beattie, jointly filed the application and cited the property developer, Condev Property Developers, the director of Urban Planning at City of Harare, the City of Harare and Andrew Herbst as respondents The applicants filed an application to review the director of urban planning’s decision to grant Condev a development permit on April 17, 2024 arguing that due process was not followed

Trauma Centre proprietor, Vivek Solanki, submitted that the granting of the permit was supposed to happen within 3 months but it took City of Harare Director of Urban Planning 6 months warranting its reversal under the Administrative Justice Act [Chapter 10:28] “It is submitted therefore that the local planning authority had until the 15th January 2025 to determine the application “It is submitted that the permit was only determined after the passage of six ( 6 ) months and it was therefore irrational and grossly irregular for the permit to have been issued on the 17th of April 2025.” Solanki said he was served with a copy of Condev Property’s application in terms of the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act [Chapter 29:12] section 26(3) on October 10, 2024 And on November 5, 2024 after having had sight of the application made by Condev Property, Trauma Centre filed an objection to the application in terms of the relevant Act so did his neighbours

“I submit that several of my neighbours who are residents and live along Kingsmead Road also filed objections,” reads his affidavit He argues that the permit which was not served on objectors, violating due process, was also missing from the local authority’s records “I submit that none of the objectors were ever served with a permit nor could anyone in the 3rd Respondent’s offices or the local district offices in Borrowdale or Highlands avail us of a permit despite numerous visits from the 2nd Applicant,”

Originally published on NewsHawks

Source: NewsHawks