Restore Kurla galas within 4 days: HC to BMC
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has slammed the BMC for its peremptory action of demolishing 35 galas in the Bharat Coal Compound at Kajupada, Kurla West, while the case was still being heard. In its interim order dated April 18, the court has directed the civic body to restore the galas to their original state within four days. In the absence of exact measurements, however, BMC lacks a plan to implement the order.
According to their owners, the galas, around 100 in all, have been home to engineering, fabrication and readymade garment units since 1960, and employ approximately 5,000 people. The owners claimed that despite furnishing documents, and despite the matter being in court, the BMC declared the structures, which are on private land, “unauthorised” and demolished them, rendering thousands of workers jobless. HT was the first to report on the demolition on April 8. “We are extremely distressed by the high-handed action of the BMC,” stated the court in its April 18 interim order. “The matter was moved before us on April 4, we permitted amendment, and while we did not grant interim relief, we did specifically say that affidavits in reply had to be filed and served by April 22.”
The court had appointed Shetgiri & Associates, an architect from its court receiver’s panel, to visit the site and give two detailed reports with gala measurements. “These reports can serve as an initial guideline for both the petitioners and the BMC, regarding the dimensions of the structures in question and the next steps to be taken. Mr Shetgiri’s reports do not precisely align with the basis of the BMC’S orders, which were based on outdated tikka sheet documents. These structures have been standing for a considerable period,” the court stated in its observations.
The court further stated that making use of its denial of interim relief, the BMC had demolished the structures over
night. Pulling up the civic body, the order read, “The least we would have expected from a responsible officer of the BMC, in deference to the fact that the petition had not been disposed of and an affidavit in reply had been called for, was to not overreach the Court and present it with a fait accompli.
“If Mr Shetgiri visits the site today, he will find nothing but rubble,” the order stated. “There is no meaningful action or intervention that is any longer possible, and all of this has happened because the BMC has in its wisdom decided that it is perfectly alright that the petition is pending, reply, though called for, has not been filed, but an action can be taken so that the high court is left with precisely nothing that it can do.” The order further added that this was not a case where the BMC action was sealing of premises or something reversible. “We do not accept this. The BMC will restore the structures as they existed prior to the state of the demolition and will do it at the BMC’S cost. If the structure was demolished overnight, it can be put up overnight,” said the order, directing the BMC to restore the galas by April 22.
Ritesh Jain, whose gala was demolished on April 6, said the court’s interim order had come as a relief. “The order mentions that the BMC showed undue urgency in initiating action,” he said. “Now BMC cannot even constitute a committee and measure the size of the galas, as there is only rubble.”ashok Shetty, who has been running a garments exports business here since 1961, said the gala owners had been paying electricity and rent bills, and BMC licence fees prior to 1961. He has 100 tailors working under him, but his gala too was razed. “When the BMC issued the speaking order with the Section 351 notice under MMC Act to demolish our structures, we moved court and a hearing was scheduled on April 25,” he said. “We already submitted documents prior to 1962. But the BMC officers behaved like goons.” Shetty added that the gala owners also approached former civic chief I S Chahal, who directed his officials not to touch the structures until he had visited the site. “After he was transferred, BMC issued a demolition notice the very next day and then razed our structures till 1 am on April 6 and then again on April 12,” said Shetty. The owners alleged that there is a politician-builder-bmc nexus at play behind the entire episode.