Tells SC regularisation of illegal flats impossible, will have serious implications for the whole country
There is no hope left for Campa Cola residents now, after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) told the Supreme Court that regularisation of "illegal" flats is not possible. The BMC argued that "people involved in unauthorised constructions will take advantage, if they (Campa residents) are regularised."
The residents have moved the SC, seeking a direction to the BMC and the Maharashtra government to consider their plea to regularise the flats after forming a new policy. On July 7, the SC indicated it will hear the issue, if the state or the BMC comes out with a new proposal and asked the BMC about the possibility of an out-of-court settlement.
The BMC filed a detailed affidavit before the apex court on September 27 saying "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.
Requesting the court to dismiss the application filed by residents, the BMC said: "If any order in favour of the residents are passed, it shall have serious implications and persons who have carried out unauthorised constructions and against whom the corporation had taken action will take undue advantage."
The corporation cited that, in the past, consultations and discussions were held, but they never yielded any result and it referred to the state government's resolution, passed on June 12, 2014, on unauthorised constructions. The BMC said the government has appointed a committee to look into unauthorised constructions and several meetings have been held.
A bench, headed by Justice S J Mukhopadhyay, will further hear the matter on October 8, after Dusshera vacations.
On February 27, 2013, the apex court had allowed the BMC to demolish 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, which were 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 constructed three decades ago without BMC's permission, and, hence, declared illegal. More than 140 families have been residing in the complex for 25 years.
The residents had earlier submitted some new facts, brought out through an RTI application, to the court. The RTI query revealed that BMC has collected penalty from people for regularisation sometime in 2005-2006, but this was not told to any court.
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