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Those owning one flat must not be allowed to own 4-5 cars: Bombay HC
Hearing a PIL filed by activist Sandeep Thakur, the Bombay high court said that families should “cross-check” if there are enough parking spaces in the housing societies they live in.
The Bombay high court on Thursday said that authorities must not allow families owning only one flat to “have four or five cars” if the former do not have adequate parking space available in their respective housing complexes, news agency PTI reported.
The bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni expressed their concerns over the lack of uniform policy in Maharashtra with regards to designated parking spaces for vehicles.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by an activist namely Sandeep Thakur, who is a Navi Mumbai resident, challenging a government circular that amended the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations Rules thereby allowing developers to cut down car parking space in societies.
He stated in his PIL that developers do not provide owners with enough parking space for vehicles, and hence, force them to park their cars outside the housing society premises.
“Reduction in the purchase of new cars is needed. You can't permit one family to have four to five vehicles just because they can afford it. You should cross-check if they have parking spaces or not," the bench noted.
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It also raised questions over the rules challenged in the petition, and said that there will be “chaos” if a proper policy on vehicle parking is “not formulated.”
The court further stated that all the city streets are “flooded with vehicles” and everywhere, 30 per cent of the roads is consumed by “parking on both sides,” terming the matter as a “common phenomenon.”
“These are genuine public concerns which have to be taken into consideration to come up with long-term measures…There has to be a policy in place,” the bench added.
The high court has asked the state’s advocate Manish Pable to file a reply to Thakur’s PIL within two weeks.
