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Bombay high court paves way for revamp of Municipal Colony in Vikhroli
Apart from redeveloping the colony, the Mumbai civic body is also constructing service quarters for doctors, para-medical and other staff attached to the Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar at the Municipal Colony.
The Bombay high court (HC) paved the way for the redevelopment of the Municipal Colony at Vikhroli Parksite by dismissing two petitions filed by the existing tenants of the area. The tenants were seeking cash for their monthly rent from the civic body, instead of a transit accommodation at Mahul rehabilitation camp proposed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Two groups of municipal tenants had filed separate petitions, complaining that the BMC, which is their landlord, had offered them temporary alternae accommodation in Evershine Building at Mahul, Chembur. The affected families near the site alleged that Mahul, a highly-polluted area, is purportedly unfit for human habitation and there was a likelihood of the 824 families of the municipal tenants developing respiratory diseases and other serious ailments, if they are forced to be relocated to Mahul.
The tenants therefore said that they will themselves secure temporary accommodation on rent, and sought a direction to the civic body to pay the municipal tenants a monthly rent in cash, instead of compelling them to accept the transit accommodation at Mahul till the time the Municipal Colony at Parksite is fully redeveloped.
The bench of justice SC Dharmadhikari and justice GS Patel on August 27 refused to accept the contentions. It said neither can HC frame a policy nor can it order framing of a new policy or alter the existing one.
The bench rejected the plea of the tenants, primarily in view of the municipal corporation’s undertaking to the court that all the residents would be brought back to the same site after the colony is redeveloped or be rehabilitated within the same locality or in close vicinity of the existing tenements. Besides, the judges also said that accepting their plea would put “enormous strain and pressure on public (civic) exchequer.”
The bench also rejected the tenants’ challenge against the BMC’s eviction notices to them on the ground that the buildings had become dilapidated. “It cannot be disputed that the buildings are old, dilapidated and beyond repairs,” the bench said in this regard.
Apart from redeveloping the colony, the civic body is also constructing service quarters for doctors, para-medical and other staff attached to the Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar at the Municipal Colony.
