Mumbai: Observing that it cannot afford more mishaps in the city, the Bombay High Court has ordered the city civic authority and also the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) to conduct a survey of buildings across Mumbai to ascertain the total number of illegal structures.
The HC said if any illegal structure is found, the authorities must forthwith demolish the same. A bench of Justices Satyaranjan Dharmadhikari and Gautam Patel clearly said that whatever is illegal remains so and cannot be regularised.
“The areas such as Pydhonie, Bhuleshwar, Kalbadevi, Mohammed Ali Road have been every year witnessing the collapse of buildings and innocents losing their lives. In these areas, there is rampant illegal and unauthorised construction,” the bench noted.
The bench further noted that every year one or the other structure collapses, either on the eve of monsoon or during the monsoon. It also noted that in 2019 alone, there were two major mishaps and large casualties.
“If the BMC has not learnt any lesson and the government as well is trying to protect these structures and the occupants simply because they are registered as voters, then it is unfortunate that none are bothered about the future of this city,” Justice Dharmadhikari remarked.
“We do not think that we can afford more mishaps and accidents in this area. We expect that before the next monsoon, a survey of all the structures in these localities will be undertaken by MHADA and BMC and the government will render all assistance,” Justice Dharmadhikari ordered.
The court further said that this survey would reveal as to how many structures with proper dimensions and sizes were originally existing or constructed and have permissible improvements.
“The others may be categorised as additions and alterations without or with authorisation. If these exceed the permissible limits particularly the floor space index, then, they have necessarily to go,” Justice Dharmadhikari said.
“There cannot be any post-facto regularisation nor there can be any consideration of applications for regularisation for what is illegal can never be regularised,” the judges clarified.
The bench further ordered the BMC to complete the survey before the onset of monsoons in 2020. “We also expect the BMC to insist on the structural audit to be carried out of the benchmark buildings if already not carried out.
The civic officials must fully comply with the mandate of the laws pertaining to dilapidated buildings to avoid future accidents and mishaps,” Justice Dharmadhikari said while posting the matter for further hearing on July 1, 2020.
The bench was dealing with a matter pertaining to an illegal structure at a South Mumbai area, wherein, the tenants ad challenged the demolition notices issued by the BMC.
