HC rejects Government plea for policy to regularise illegal buildings
Mumbai - The Bombay High Court rejected a Maharashtra Government plea seeking to implement a policy to regularise illegal structures across the State which have come up before 31st December 2015. Turning down the plea, the Court held that such a policy is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution and was also not in conformity with the provisions of Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act (MRTP), 1966.
A draft of the policy was presented to the Court earlier in April during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging illegal constructions in Navi Mumbai on public land. The High Court was informed by the petitioner that there were around 2.50 lakh illegal structures in the State, excluding the slums.
The Bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka also observed the proposed policy was not in consonance with the Development Control Regulations and rules. Maharashtra cannot be allowed to protect illegal structures in keeping with the provisions of existing laws, the judges ruled.
Bombay HC orders demolition of Adarsh building
Mumbai - In the order that sends a strong message against corruption, the Bombay High Court on 29thApril ordered the Union Environment Ministry to demolish 31-storey Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society. However, the counsel for Adarsh Housing Society pleaded for a 12-week stay on the demolition order to enable its appeal in the Supreme Court and the High Court bench granted a stay. The State and environment authorities objected to the stay.
The Society, originally meant to be a 6-storey structure to house Kargil war heroes and war widows, was converted into a 100-metre-tall building with politicians, bureaucrats and army officers allegedly conspiring to get flats allotted to them in the cooperative society at below market rates. The scam was unearthed in November 2010 which forced the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan to resign, following which its members approached the Bombay High Court challenging it.
The court was deciding on numerous petitions filed by the Adarsh Housing Society, the Ministry of Defence and Public Interest Litigant (PIL) Santosh Daundkar about the construction of the 31-storey high-rise at posh Cuffe Parade next to Defence establishments. The Court also directed the State to initiate crim-inal prosecution against officers involved in the scam and to restore the plot. The order to raze the building comes after the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) passed an order to demolish the scam-hit society in 2011.
The Bench of Justices RV More and RG Ketkar also directed the Ministry of Defence to conduct a departmental inquiry into its officers for not taking action early enough when the building scam came to light.
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