RAZE SLUMS BY JANUARY 2016: HC - Residents in Sion win battle against shanties after 15 yrs : The Times of India

Mumbai:



Capping a 15-yearold fight by a housing society in the city, Bombay high court in an important order, has ordered the BMC to demolish the illegal hutments encroaching on a 60ft public road in Sion along the compound of the residential complex.

A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Revati Dere has set a deadline of January 2016 for the demolition to be completed, after following due procedure. The HC also asked the civic body to demolish two toilet blocks financed from the funds allotted by a local corporator.

“It is the legal obligation of the municipal corporation of the municipal corporation to take action against the illegal hutments irrespective of the fact whether the hutments are a part of the proposed Development Plan road or not,“ the bench said. The BMC sought to claim hat the hutments were in ex stence for a long time and also that they were “protected“ as part of the policy of the Maharashtra government.

However, the HC was unconvinced. “It is not the state government's case that the land on which the hutments have been erect ed is a slum area (under the law),“ said the judges, adding, “No partic ulars of the alleged policy of the state gov ernment, which protects he said illegal hutments are placed on record.“ The HC pointed it out to the civic body hat it had declared the hutments illegal in its affidavits and reminded it of its obliga ion to demolish unauthorized structures.

The Everard Society , a res dential complex at Sion off he Eastern Express Highway , came up in the 1980s. The BMC wrote to the society re quiring an area of 30 ft along its compound for a 60 ft-wide road. The corporation also asked the society to complete the asphalting of that portion of the road. According to the society, some illegal hutments came up on the road along the compound.

In 2000, the society approached the court over attempts to put up toilet blocks in an area where the society had its underground water tank. The society claimed that the toilet blocks were being constructed at the behest of the local corporator. The society moved the court seeking demolition of the hutments and the toilet blocks. In an interim order, the HC had asked the authorities to maintain the status quo. The authorities had claimed that the hutments were not on the public road.