Illegal bldgs: Architects too will face action

Architects or licensed surveyors will be held responsible if their clients carry out illegal constructions and they do nothing to stop it, says a new circular issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on February 4.

Architects or licensed surveyors will be held responsible if their clients carry out illegal constructions and they do nothing to stop it, says a new circular issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on February 4.

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Anil Sakhare, counsel for the BMC, told the Bombay high court on Tuesday that municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar had issued the circular to curb unauthorised constructions.

The high court was hearing a petition filed by Shri Balaji International School challenging the BMC’s action of demolishing a Reliance Energy electricity sub-station, supplying power to the school, set up on a plot reserved for a playground.

The BMC said there were irregularities in the construction of the school building. The judges were irked to find that civic authorities had allowed the 12-storey structure to come up and later condoned the irregularities and regularised it.

The court has issued a notice to the school’s architect, Umesh Bhat, and the Council of Architecture.