HC orders inquiry into school operating illegally in slum

A division bench of justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata also imposed a ₹5 lakh fine on the petitioner, Mumtaz H Khoja, the chairman of the school’s trust, for “abuse of the process of court”.

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday ordered the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) to conduct an inquiry into a school with 150 students that is allegedly being illegally operated from a slum.

Mumbai, India - Aug. 28, 2015 : Bombay High Court : ( Photo by Bhushan Koyande )

A division bench of justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata also imposed a ₹5 lakh fine on the petitioner, Mumtaz H Khoja, the chairman of the school’s trust, for “abuse of the process of court”. It held that the petitioner had deliberately concealed facts and misled the court while seeking a review of an earlier judgment dated February 8, 2024.

The court noted that Khoja, who described herself as a senior citizen and dependent on her parents, was in fact a medical practitioner who had been occupying three separate structures in the slum area—one residential, one for her clinic, and another for running a school under a trust where she served as chairperson.

“She was in possession of not merely one but three separate structures, thereby illegally occupying an area exceeding 2,200 sqft of slum land,” the bench said. “There was no justification whatsoever for her failure to disclose these facts in the original petition.”

Rejecting the petitioner’s contention that her residential tenement was wrongly allotted to a school, the court found her claims “patently false and misleading.” The judges noted that Khoja had “received the benefit of four premises and still chose, with mala fide intent, to suppress material facts.”

The court was particularly critical of the evidence submitted by the petitioner, calling it “fabricated and suspicious”. This includes certain rent receipts the petitioner produced in support of her claim, which the bench said were “not only suspicious but ex facie bogus”.

“Such documents are clearly concocted, and it is evident that the entire claim has been built upon falsehood,” the bench said. It added that if an applicant misleads the court, the court is duty-bound to reject the petition and may even consider contempt proceedings.

The bench also took serious note of the fact that a school with 150 students was being run in a slum area without clarity on permissions or safety standards. It directed the BMC and SRA to conduct a detailed inquiry into how the trust was allowed to operate the school, and whether mandatory clearances, including fire safety and building permissions, had been obtained.

“The facts disclosed in this case reveal not only the dangers to which very young children have been exposed by individuals such as the petitioner, but also the apparent inaction and apathy of the BMC and the SRA,” the court said.

Dismissing the review petition, the court ordered Khoja to pay ₹5,00,000 to the Armed Forces Battle Casualties Welfare Fund within two weeks. The bench further directed the Mumbai collector to recover the amount as land revenue if she fails to comply and remit it to the welfare fund.