HC seeks data from civic bodies on unauthorised constructions

A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni said the BMC and other civic bodies must file additional affidavits informing the court of the number of unauthorised constructions, the action taken so far, and the measures they plan to take against such structures in future. The bench also directed the state urban development department to look at what each municipal corporation had said in the affidavits filed in the HC on Thursday, and to file a comprehensive reply summing up everything by October 26.

The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other civic bodies around Mumbai to furnish data on unauthorised constructions in their respective areas. A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni said the BMC and other civic bodies must file additional affidavits informing the court of the number of unauthorised constructions, the action taken so far, and the measures they plan to take against such structures in future.

The bench also directed the state urban development department to look at what each municipal corporation had said in the affidavits filed in the HC on Thursday, and to file a comprehensive reply summing up everything by October 26. The bench was hearing a suo motu PIL on dilapidated buildings, encroachments and unauthorised constructions in and around the city.

On September 24, the bench had taken suo moto (on its own) cognisance of the building collapse in Bhiwandi, wherein over 40 people died. The court had made the state of Maharashtra, the BMC, the municipal corporations of Bhiwandi Nizampur, Kalyan Dombivali, and Navi Mumbai, respondents in the case.

It had asked all these civic bodies to file replies detailing what had been done so far across the state to regulate such construction. On Thursday, the court noted that while most civic bodies, including the BMC, had submitted details of the dilapidated structures, they had stayed "silent" on unauthorised constructions.

It, therefore, asked all parties to file additional affidavits by October 26. A three-storey building had collapsed in Bhiwandi in Thane district in the state last month. Around 41 people have been reported dead and several others injured in the incident.

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