191 Unauthorised cop posts: Regularise chowkies in 10 weeks, says HC

The Bombay high court (HC) has granted 10 weeks’ time to Mumbai Police for regularising its 191 illegal chowkies in the city. The police had a total of 252 unauthorised

The Bombay high court (HC) has granted 10 weeks’ time to Mumbai Police for regularising its 191 illegal chowkies in the city. The police had a total of 252 unauthorised chowkies, out of which 61 were removed after various petitions and public interest litigations (PILs) in HC.

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The police informed the court that they had initiated the process of regularising the unauthorised chowkies, but asked for more time. They said the corporation had not processed their applications as those were not in correct format, and sought more time to rectify it.

A division bench of justices Ranjit More and MS Karnik, while hearing a clutch of petitions and PILs, was informed that the police had constructed chowkies, beat chowkies etc. on roads, footpaths and public places without authorisation, and hence should be demolished as these inconvenience pedestrians as well as vehicular traffic.

Petitioners said that despite a 2013 HC order directing the civic body to decide on applications for regularisation within six weeks, nothing had been done.

On its part, the corporation submitted that following the HC order, the police had submitted a list of unauthorised chowkies but there was no application for regularisation, hence it could not do anything about it.

In view of this, the additional public prosecutor submitted that the police would apply for regularisation within ten weeks.

After hearing the submissions, the bench directed the corporation to decide on the applications within six months of receiving them.