HC slams CIDCO, NMMC for delay in illegal constructions survey

The court has granted two weeks for CIDCO, NMMC, MIDC and Navi Mumbai police to file affidavit explaining why the survey ordered four years ago was not conducted

Navi Mumbai

Navi Mumbai, India-October 08:MIDC-NMMC conflict over Digha demolition cost – MIDC constructs boundary on NMMC land in Navi Mumbai India on Thursday 08,2015 (Photo By Bachchan kumar / HindustanTimes)

While hearing a contempt petition moved against CIDCO, NMMC, MIDC and Navi Mumbai Police, the Bombay High Coiurt has come down heavily on their failure to tackle the issue of illegal constructions in Navi Mumbai. The August 18 order has granted the concerned agencies two weeks to file their affidavit.

All four agencies were questioned by the court for not being able to carry out the city survey nearly four years after the order by the Writ court in 2019. The respondents in the matter include the Managing Director, CIDCO, Municipal Commissioner of NMMC, Regional Officer of MIDC and Commissioner of Police, Navi Mumbai.

The contempt petition was moved by social activist Rajeev Mishra , who also filed the 2013 PIL seeking HC’s attention to the largescale illegal constructions in the city, in 2022. “In 2013 , the number of illegal constructions across Navi Mumbai were recorded to be around 1300-odd buildings. But in a RTI response by CIDCO recently, a total of 104 new illegal constructions have come up in just two nodes – Koparkhairane and Ghansoli in 2022-2023,” said Mishra. Each illegal construction was found occupying an area of 500 to 1500 sq ft.

“ The land upon which each of these buildings stands belongs to the government. This kind of revenue loss to the treasury cannot be overlooked,” he said.

The activist terms the situation to be alarming and a clear indication of authority’s failure to do anything concrete to address the issue. During the hearing of the petition, the bench was informed about the 10 directives issued by the Writ court in 2019. One of the directive was to conduct a survey of identifying and locating the exact number of illegal constructions within their jurisdiction.

“Even the HC has understood the lack of will by the authorities to do anything in the matter. In the order HC has specifically mentioned about the excessive delay even in conducting the survey when each of the authorities were legally obliged to do the work within a period of one year,” added Mishra.

While the authorities concerned refrained from making any comments as the matter is subjudiced, but senior officials from CIDCO maintained that the administration was taking proactive measures. “The data that there are 104 illegal constructions presently in the city itself depicts that CIDCO is not only monitoring but also taking appropriate actions as well. CIDCO Controller of Unauthorised Constructions (CUC) undertakes regular demolition drives with the police. We could have completed the survey, but the delay is due to a policy decision from the government which is expected to give clarity on how to classify the extensions done by villagers as per their need,” said a senior official.

The matter is now to be heard on September 15.

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