Campa Cola residents are banking on the new government to save their illegal flats. And the Supreme Court on Monday said it would not be "averse" to any relief that the new Maharashtra government might offer them.
Referring to the new government which will soon take charge of the state, a bench headed by justice SJ Mukhopadhaya said the government may suggest some way to get over the problem.
The court deferred the hearing after advocate Kamini Jaiswal pleaded before it for adjournment.
The residents have moved the Suprem Court, seeking a direction to the BMC and the Maharashtra government to consider their plea to regularise the flats after forming a new policy.
Replying to this plea, the BMC filed an affidavit saying that "people involved in unauthorised constructions will take advantage, if the flats are regularised". The civic authority said regularisation of illegal flats will have serious implications not just for Mumbai and the state but for the whole country."
"There is no question of forming new policies, and if any direction is given, it would be treated as a precedent in several matters within the jurisdiction of the corporation," the BMC affidavit, running into 46 pages, said.
On July 7, the Supreme Court indicated it would hear the issue if the state or the BMC came out with a new proposal and asked the BMC about the possibility of an out-of-court settlement.
The previous Congress government had appointed a committee to look into unauthorised constructions and several meetings have been held.
On February 27, 2013, the apex court allowed the BMC to demolish the illegal flats. On October 1, it refused to re-consider its earlier order and set a November 11 deadline for residents to vacate 102 flats that had been declared illegal.
On November 13, 2013, while granting extension of time, the court fixed May 31, 2014, as the new deadline to vacate the premises.
These flats were built three decades ago without the BMC's permission, and, hence, were declared illegal. More than 140 families have been living in the complex for the past 25 years.
The residents had earlier submitted some new facts, brought out through an RTI application, to the court. The RTI query revealed that the BMC had collected penalty from people for regularisation sometime in 2005-2006, but this was not told to any court.
One of the core committee members of Campa Cola told dna: "We are very happy with the Supreme Court's decision. The BJP government has always supported us, and we are looking up to them this time too. We are sure they will support us, now that they will form the government."
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