The Bombay High Court (HC) has ordered the demolition of an illegal three-storeyed school Shivraj Vidya Mandir in Wadgaonsheri. Ever since it’s construction in 1986, the society residents and school trustees were locked in a tussle.
The order was passed by the division bench of justices SJ Kathawalla and BP Colabawalla and the court has given the school time until May 30, 2020.
The society members of Grewal Co-op Housing Society, Wadgaonsheri are content that their long battle with the Siddhivinayak Shikshan Sanstha, a registered public trust, has come with them winning the court case. The Sanstha has illegally constructed the Shivraj Vidya Mandir in 1986 in the open space of the Grewal Co-op Housing Society without obtaining the building plans sanctioned by the authority concerned and without seeking permission from the Society.
“Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had passed the demolition order in 2014, which was not implemented,” said Swati Gaikwad, secretary of the society. The 62 residents (living in 68 houses spread across 7 acres) moved a writ petition against PMC and the Sanstha.
“The Sanstha is a registered public trust and has been running a primary and high school in the contested space without permission. Moreover, no building plans were sanctioned by PMC. We have repeatedly asked the trustees to shift the school. We gave them a letter in 1997 and they promised within a year or two, but nothing happened, and instead they constructed a three storeyed building in 2006 without any notice,” said Gaikwad.
{{/usCountry}}“The Sanstha is a registered public trust and has been running a primary and high school in the contested space without permission. Moreover, no building plans were sanctioned by PMC. We have repeatedly asked the trustees to shift the school. We gave them a letter in 1997 and they promised within a year or two, but nothing happened, and instead they constructed a three storeyed building in 2006 without any notice,” said Gaikwad.
{{/usCountry}}The school filed the writ petition in 2014, seeking an order to quash and set aside the PMC’s 2013 notice. After yet another hearing in December 2015, PMC passed an order for demolition within two weeks.