Consider tribunal to hear cases on illegal buildings:HC to Mah

The Bombay High Court onWednesday suggested formation of a separate tribunal by theMaharashtra government to hear cases pertaining to illegalconstructions so that timely action is taken against suchbuildings and untoward incidents like collapse can be averted.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta andJustice G S Kulkarni was hearing a public interest litigationtaken suo motu (on its own) by the high court in September2020 following the collapse of a building in Bhiwandi in Thanedistrict that claimed 38 lives.

The HC had at that time directed the Maharashtragovernment and all civic bodies across the state to inform itabout steps being taken to keep a check on illegalconstructions and dilapidated buildings in their respectiveareas.

The bench noted on Wednesday that unfortunately thereis no will on part of the corporations to keep a check on suchbuildings.

''There is illegality and dereliction of duty on partof the civic body officials. We don't know where we areheading. All ward officers must be sensitised on what theirduties are in such cases. The will of the corporations isimportant. Human life should not be so cheap,'' JusticeKulkarni said.

The bench said that the whole system is organised, andwhen a corporation notices any illegal construction ordilapidated building a notice is sent following which thesociety or developer approaches the civil court in a suit andmanages to get a stay on the notice.

''Even when no stay is granted by the civil court, wehave noticed that the corporation then does not take anyfollow up action on the notice. Then the matter just staysstagnated for years,'' the HC said.

The bench then suggested the state government to setup a separate tribunal to hear such matters so that the burdenon civil courts is reduced and matters can be heard anddecided faster.

''There are tribunals for so many things. This too isan important issue. The state government should consider atribunal for this too,'' Justice Kulkarni said.

Chief Justice Datta then said West Bengal had aseparate tribunal to hear matters pertaining to buildings.

The HC directed all the corporations and districtcouncils in Maharashtra to submit ward-wise data of how manyunauthorised constructions are there in their respective wardand how many litigations are pending pertaining to the same.

The matter is posted for further hearing on March 3.

PTI SPNSK NSK