High court stays demolition of shops for GMLR

The Bombay high court (HC) last week restrained the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) from demolishing shops at Dindoshi for the ₹6,000 crore Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project after it was informed that the compensation that civic body offered was not adequate

The Bombay high court (HC) last week restrained the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) from demolishing shops at Dindoshi for the ₹6000 crore Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project after it was informed that the compensation that BMC offered was not adequate as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

The GMLR, aimed at connecting the arterial Western and Eastern Express Highways with two flyovers and two 4.75-km-long tunnels to be constructed 20 meters below the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), is expected to cost ₹6,000 crore. The petitioners had approached the high court after the BMC reportedly offered them a fourth of the compensation they deserved after they refused the BMC’s offer to rehabilitate them at Charkop. Court has stayed demolition of shops. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The petitioners had approached the HC after the BMC reportedly offered them a fourth of the compensation they deserved after they refused the BMC’s offer to rehabilitate them at Charkop.

A division bench of Justices AA Sayed and SG Dige, while hearing the petitions of 15 of the 50 affected shopkeepers, was informed by senior advocate JP Sen along with Advocates Irani and Co that BMC had started demolishing a large number of structures bordering Gen AK Vaidya Marg in Goregaon East without following proper procedure or giving adequate compensation. The petitioners also sought directions to the BMC to follow proper procedure before undertaking any demolition work.

The GMLR, aimed at connecting the arterial Western and Eastern Express Highways with two flyovers and two 4.75-km-long tunnels to be constructed 20 meters below the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), is expected to cost ₹6000 crore. BMC had begun demolishing structures in an attempt to start work on the flyovers by the end of 2021 and on the tunnels by mid-2022. BMC has been demolishing structures bordering Gen AK Vaidya Marg for widening the road to 150 feet as per the GMLR’s sanctioned plan.

Sen, who appeared for 11 shopkeepers (the remaining four were represented by another lawyer who used the same submissions as Sen), informed the bench that though the GMLR was sanctioned in 1973, work on it began only recently, and that shops and other business establishments had come up there as the BMC had not acquired the land till then. He admitted that illegal structures had come up in that period; however, the legal structures of the petitioners and others were also targeted in BMC’s demolition drive. As they feared they will not get proper compensation for their properties, they had approached the HC.

According to the shopkeepers, BMC’s compensation of ₹35-38 lakh is only a fourth of the market value. They said they refuse to accept it.

BMC’s lawyer Narendra Walawalkar informed the bench that the petitioners had been offered rehabilitation at Charkop, but they had refused to accept it. It was then that the civic authority offered them compensation. As the matter was sub-judice, the civic authority said it was willing to give an undertaking that the petitioners’ properties will not be demolished till the petition is decided. The court accepted the undertaking, and directed the BMC to ensure that the grievances of the petitioners were resolved amicably.

However, on November 24, the bench was informed by the petitioners that, with the exception of their shops, the BMC had demolished, without notice, 35 legal shops. Hence the aggrieved shop owners also wished to be heard. The bench was told that BMC’s lawyer Walawalkar was indisposed and could not be present. The bench, therefore, adjourned the hearing to December 1.