BMC officer forged court summons, says shop owner

A grocer from south Mumbai, who was booked by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for carrying out business without a licence, on Monday alleged that a BMC officer had served him ‘forged’ court summons, reports Vignesh Iyer.

A grocer from south Mumbai, who was booked by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for carrying out business without a licence, on Monday alleged that a BMC officer had served him ‘forged’ court summons.

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Javed Faroqui (52), who owns a shop in Colaba, was booked under provisions of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act in June 2009 for not having a proper licence. The BMC had filed a complaint before a Dadar court.

When the complaint came up for hearing on Monday, Faroqui’s lawyer, Dinesh Mota, told the court that the BMC officer had served the summons to his client in February stating that the case hearing was on February 22.

On the appointed day, Mota and Faroqui went to the court. They waited for several hours but their case was not called for hearing. “On inquiry, we found that the case was not listed for hearing,” Mota said.

The two went to the court’s clerk who told them that the case was first listed for hearing on December 21 and was adjourned till March 15.

Mota added that the clerk, after checking a copy of the summons served to Faroqui, said the summons was neither issued by the magistrate nor by the judicial clerk who is authorised to sign certain court documents.

“I told the court that there is a possibility that the BMC officer forged the summons,” Mota said.

“We do not know who is the BMC officer,” he added.

The court will decide the matter on March 22.