MUMBAI: Dismissing petitions challenging notices issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for removal of unauthorised constructions, the Bombay High Court (HC) on Tuesday imposed costs of ₹ 10 lakh on the petitioner in the hope that it would be a “deterrent for all law-breakers”.
There are only negligible instances where the authority has taken prompt action. Most constructions are being carried out overnight and later expanded as required over a period of time.” Coming down heavily on both the petitioner who erected unauthorised constructions over approximately 34,000 sq ft in Andheri (West) over the years and the BMC that failed to act against it on time, the court observed, “Unfortunately, having dealt with several cases, it is evident that the public mindset is to carry out construction first and seek regularisation only if, and when, the concerned authority ever acts.
the court said that it did not prove that the structures existed before 1962 While the petitioner cited a licence issued by the BMC for stone-cutting in 1961. The constructed area measures approximately 34,000 sq ft of which the petitioner had volunteered to remove almost 18,000 sq ft, the court noted. The court asked the petitioner to pay ₹ 10 lakh to the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa’s Advocate Academy and Research Center.
“Such pleas are baseless and cannot be countenanced. The BMC has, over the years, failed the law-abiding citizens by granting such repair permissions without verifying whether the structures were lawfully constructed, for reasons not too far to seek.
After hearing both the petitioner and the BMC, the judges said, “on close scrutiny, we find this to be yet another case where an owner of a piece of land has constructed structures without permissions on the presumption that later it will be regularised. “Apart from the extensive illegal construction, he (petitioner) has admittedly put up portable cabins without any permissions from the BMC,” the court observed, adding that assessment bills, electricity bills, shop and establishment licence issued by the BMC or any authority, cannot make an unauthorised structure legal. In many such cases, the court said, illegal structures are sought to be protected under the guise of repair permissions. Shah Constructions had volunteered to remove some of the illegal structures by itself but the court said that “this is nothing but an attempt to retain what is entirely unauthorized”. The bench said that permitting the illegal structures to continue “would send out a wrong message that illegalities are pardoned if backed by money”.
