Tuesday 21 April 2015

BMC can't cite shortage of staff for inaction against illegal buildings: HC

Lack of personnel is no reason for the BMC to contend that it cannot deal with complaints of unauthorized construction, said Bombay high court on Friday .
Todetecttheincreasingnumbersofillegalstructures,themunicipalcommissionerisdirectedbythecourttosetupacommitteeofofficerswithintwoweeks.The committee was directed to determine within six weeks thereafter the number of posts it will require.
A bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice A P Bhangale passed the direction after BMC's senior advocate Anil Singh said the civic body receives several complaints daily and it is not possible with existing manpower to identify them. The judges said toputactionsintoimplementationtheylackmanpowerhence the civic body can always create additional posts for the job.
The court heard a PIL by SayyadRizvi regarding civic inaction on complaints of illegal structures in P North ward (Malad west). His petition said there were 3,000 unauthorized structures, including bungalows on Madh-Marve Road and nearby areas. His advocate, DiwakarDwivedi, argued that despite several complaints the civic body has not taken action. In its order, the bench also noted that no attempt has been made by the BMC to identify even the structures that are “adequately described“ byRizvi. It granted the designated officer two months to visit the sites of such alleged unauthorized structures. If the officer finds some structures are illegal, then he shall initiate action for demolition forthwith. After this exercise, the officer shall identify other illegal structures mentioned in Rizvi's complaints. The court has directed a compliance report (also regarding creation of posts) to be filed before the next hearing on June 29.


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