BMC swings into action on Lexicon demolition

Nearly 10 days after dna highlighted how the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was moving at a snail’s pace to get a stay order against the demolition of a Dahisar (east) school building lifted, the legal department of the civic body has swung into action.

Rapped on the knuckles by senior officials, the department will soon file an application before the Dindoshi civil court pleading urgency to vacate the stay on demolition of Lexicon Global School, which has come up on a reserved plot.

“The efforts will be made on a priority basis to get the stay vacated at the earliest,” said Uday Kedar, law officer of BMC. The move comes after the details were sought from the law officials dealing with the case on why the court ban had not been lifted for so long.

On December 11, dna had reported that the civic body was unable to raze the disputed structure, Lexicon Global School and Matruchaya College of Commerce and Science, which had come up on a 1745-sq mt plot, despite the local ward office issuing a demolition notice in October 2012.

While the school authorities obtained a court order restraining the BMC from pulling down the structure, it was found that the legal department had not followed up on the case to get a decision in favour of the civic administration.

Law officials attributed the delay to the backlog of other cases. “Not a single hearing has taken place till date. Now, the matter will be pursued closely as per the directions given by the senior civic officials,” said an official.