HC evicts 130 men from ‘unsafe’ hostel in Lower Parel

The Bombay high court (HC) last week ordered 130 inmates housed in a men’s hostel in Lower Parel to immediately vacate the building as it posed a “risk to their

The Bombay high court (HC) last week ordered 130 inmates housed in a men’s hostel in Lower Parel to immediately vacate the building as it posed a “risk to their lives”. The court noted that the building was still under construction and had no valid electricity and water connections.

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“The inmates of the hostel, who are housed in the under-construction building, shall immediately vacate the premises, since allowing them to stay in an under-construction building is absolutely unsafe and a risk to their lives,” said justice SJ Kathawalla. The directive was issued after some flat buyers filed an application in a pending suit.

The official liquidator of the HC has attached the building and liquidated the company that was to develop it. The judge was irked to note the building was incomplete, and had neither a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department nor an occupancy certificate from the planning authority. The judge also expressed displeasure over a furniture business, being run from another floor, using the electricity temporarily supplied by the BEST to the developer to construct the building.