Is illegality also ease of business: HC
Court to consider asking BMC to make records of all building projects available on its website
Observing that additions and alterations are made to buildings without approval from the BMC, the Bombay High Court said on Wednesday that it may direct the civic body to make all records relating to every construction project in Mumbai available on its citizens’ portal.
A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Gauri Godse said, “Every scrap of paper, every single document will be uploaded.”
The court was hearing a petition relating to construction of a six-storey building on Turner Road at Bandra (West) where the developer allegedly tampered with two RCC columns in the basement, endangering the building’s safety.
The judges said that the BMC, as the public and planning authority under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, has to ensure that its entire record relating to every construction project is publicly available on its website keeping the Right to Information Act and Indian Evidence Act in mind.
Referring to various Supreme Court judgments, the court said it will also have to consider whether an illegality in construction can be regularised.
Justice Patel referred to a recent remark by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta where, while hearing a PIL, he asked whether there was any provision in law that would allow the BMC to regularise an unauthorised construction.
The BMC counsel argued that the corporation had sanctioned the developer’s amended plans as part of its ease-ofdoing-business policy. To this Justice Patel remarked: “You in the BMC have adopted this policy, contrary to every principle and canon of law, that an illegality can be regularized, this so-called ease-of-doingbusiness policy!”
The court then directed the BMC’s technical advisory committee to evaluate the precise condition of the building and submit a report in two weeks. The committee was directed to get a structural audit done by an auditor empanelled by the BMC and its members were authorised to inspect the site.
The petition by co-owner Imtiaz Bangdiwalla contended that his family had entered into a redevelopment agreement in 2014 with MK Builders and Developers. The petition alleged that the developer made several additions and alterations without BMC approval and sought a direction to take necessary action. The court noted that a BMC officer on inspection had found unauthorised chipping of two RCC columns in the basement, endangering the building’s stability. The officer also learnt that the building was occupied without authorisation and there was illegal construction on the fifth and sixth floors. The corporation then issued a stop-work notice.
Interestingly, the BMC file showed a structural audit report by MP Prime Structures Pvt Ltd which noted that there were some alterations but they would not endanger the structure.