Will improve working of legal dept: BMC to HC

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Praveen Pardeshi, on Monday, assured the Bombay high court that measures were being adopted to improve the

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Praveen Pardeshi, on Monday, assured the Bombay high court that measures were being adopted to improve the working of the legal department of the corporation. Pardeshi was summoned after its various orders directing the civic body to take steps to streamline the legal department had remained unaddressed.

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The court had issued the directions after BMC advocates and civic body officials failed in providing proper or timely information with regards to cases that came up for hearing. Pardeshi admitted that the corporation had neglected the legal department and assured that it would rectify the same by assigning a junior IAS officer to oversee its working.

Last week, the division bench of justices SJ Kathawalla and BP Colabawalla while hearing a petition against an eatery running without proper fire license was informed that though the license was issued 14 years back, it had not been renewed as stipulated in the Fire Safety norms. The bench had expressed its anguish over the callous attitude of BMC officers and had called the municipal commissioner to be present in court on Monday.

Senior advocate Anil Sakhare, on behalf of Pardeshi submitted that the corporation was in the process of strengthening the legal department to ensure that pending civic cases in the HC are not delayed due to lack of assistance on the part of the BMC officers. He further submitted that the BMC intends to bring down the number of pending cases in HC from over a lakh to 30,000 soon.

The bench expressed satisfaction with the submissions and also offered to help the incumbent officer by giving him tips on how to not only reduce pendency but also how to improve the working of the legal department.

Since December, 2019 the bench which has been assigned cases related to the BMC, has been expressing its displeasure against the way in which the BMC officers were responding to court cases.