HC raps BMC for ‘ridiculous’ demolition order

The Bombay high court (HC) came down heavily on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) building department for issuing a demolition notice to an affluent

The Bombay high court (HC) came down heavily on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) building department for issuing a demolition notice to an affluent housing society in Wadala (East) that had constructed a three-inch-thick concrete platform in the building compound for placing a generator.

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BMC had issued the notice in 2016 to the society, stating that as the platform was not part of the sanctioned building plan, it should be demolished. The court observed, “This is ridiculous. You go after small things and let the big things go.” BMC agreed to regularise the platform after the HC directed the executive engineer to be present in court.

A division bench of justices SJ Kathawalla and BP Colabawalla, while hearing a petition filed by Wadala Co-operative Housing Society Limited, a 32-storey tower at Salt Pan Road, Wadala (East), was informed by the counsel for the society, advocate Rajeev Pandey, that the society had constructed a five by seven-foot platform, five to six inches above the ground to place a generator set. The generator was meant to supply electricity for essential services in the tower during power outages.

Pandey submitted that despite the society’s response to the BMC’s demolition notice, that the platform was required to safeguard the generator and hence should be regularised, the civic body refused to take back its demolition order. The society then approached the court seeking directions to the BMC to withdraw its notice and regularise the platform.

BMC’s counsel with the help of photographs tried to show that the platform was not meeting standard norms and hence needed to be demolished. The counsel submitted that as the matter was a small issue, the HC should not entertain it.

Chiding the BMC for adopting harassment techniques, Kathawalla said, “This is harassment and nothing else” and demanded that the BMC officer present ask the executive engineer to appear in court on Friday.