HC orders ‘status quo’ at Ambedkar Bhavan

Preventing Dalit leaders from reconstructing the now demolished Ambedkar Bhavan, the Bombay High Court on Friday directed both parties to maintain ‘status quo’ at the Dadar site.

The directions came in response to a suit filed by People’s Improvement Trust (PIT), against the ‘Shramdaan’ (contribution of labour) announced by Dalit leaders for the reconstruction of the structure which was razed on June 25.

It may be recalled that several Dalit leaders including Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Babasaheb Ambedkar, on July 20, staged a protest and declared to restore the demolished Ambedkar Bhavan by ‘Shramdaan’ on Saturday.

Senior counsel Shailesh Shah, appearing for PIT told the court that the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) had on June 1, issued a notice to his clients and declared Ambedkar Bhavan ‘dilapidated’.

“Pursuant to the civic body’s notice, we demolished part of the structure on June 25 and the rest was to be razed the next day. But the demolition work couldn’t start on the next day (June 26), since thousands of supporters of the defendants (Prakash Ambedkar) entered the premises and obstructed our work, ” Shah told the court.

Shah told the court that the late Dalit leader’s grandson along with his supporters have filed FIRs against his client and are obstructing them to continue with the demolition work. He also told the court that on Saturday, both Prakash Ambedkar and his brother Anandraj Ambedkar have called their supporters to restore the demolished structure.

It must be noted that there were three structures in the premises. Prakash and his brother Anandraj were occupants of one of the structures.

Speaking over their future plan, Shah told the court that his client has proposed a redevelopment of the said structure and accordingly a 17-storeyed building will be constructed on the site. He also said that the new structure would also benefit both Prakash and Anandraj.

Per Contra, Rajendra Pai, the advocate representing Prakash Ambedkar, trashed Shah’s arguments and said, “We are not doing any such construction, we will act as per the court’s directions.”

After hearing both the sides, Justice Shahrukh Kathawalla directed both the parties to maintain ‘status quo’ at the ‘disputed’ site.

Justice Kathawalla said, “I don’t want anything to be done as of now and so both the parties are directed to maintain a status quo till the next hearing.”