Court denies relief to man who challenged demolition of shed

The city civil court rejected a man's plea to challenge the demolition of his shed in Powai-Chandivali by the BMC, stating that the structure did not exist.

The city civil court recently rejected the plea of a man who had challenged the demolition of his shed at Raheja Vihar Road in Powai-Chandivali by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), claiming that he owned the said land.

HT Image

The civic body on October 17 pulled down the unauthorised bamboo shed after a protest by residents of Adityavardhan housing society and members of the Chandivali Citizens’ Welfare Association (CCWA).

“There are many anti-social elements who want to encroach on the government land. The structure was built on a road and as soon as we came to know about it, we demolished it,” Dhanaji Herlekar, assistant commissioner with L ward, had said. HT had published a report in its October 18 edition.

Arjun Lalchand Chauhan, who claimed ownership of the land and the shed, then approached the court. On the day of the hearing, November 8, local residents were present in the court.

After hearing the petitioner and BMC, the court refused to grant relief to Chauhan and ordered that debris on the road be removed to avoid traffic congestion.

“Having considered their submissions, it is worth noting that though the plaintiff (Chauhan) contended that part of the structure was demolished he didn’t bother to bring its present status on record. Barring a few photographs he presented, he did nothing. Even these photographs reveal that today there are some broken bamboos and other material lying there. To put it differently, there is no such structure/shed.”

The lawyer, representing BMC, said that the entire illegal structure that had encroached upon the road had been razed.

The court said, “Certainly, documents like the plans and the consent terms would be of no assistance to him, especially when the said structure/shed does not exist. Moreover, the alleged said agreement is apparently unregistered and extract issues by the office of collector of slum does not bear description of the said structure/shed.”

Mandeep Singh Makkar, founder member of CCWA, said, “This is a common modus operandi to encroach on public land like roads and footpaths. First, they make a false case between two parties on claim of non-existent land and through police complaints and court cases, a paper trail is created. Then these encroachers move a court and get stay orders when BMC comes for demolition.”

Makkar further said that court cases go on for years and in the name of stay order, they continue to run their businesses. “We are glad that we reached the court along with our lawyer and appreciate that BMC’s lawyer did not give in and fought through it. If this encroachment had been allowed, it would have created traffic issues for at least 20-25 societies in the area.”