30 per cent of families in the 90-yr-old Lower Parel structure has refused to move out despite promises of alternative accommodation.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) to evict dissenting tenants from a dilapidated building in Lower Parel within three weeks, to avoid any possible loss of life.
“If people living in dilapidated buildings do not care for their lives and continue to live in such buildings, the courts will have to intervene and direct the authorities to take action and evict such tenants. Even if they come on the road it is okay, at least they will live,” judge VM Kanade observed.
A division bench of judges Kanade and MS Sonak was hearing a petition by Hare Krishna Builders, which has been given the contract to redevelop the 90-year-old ‘Din’ building, where more than a hundred families reside.
According to the developer, about 30 per cent of the tenants have refused to vacate their houses despite an assurance of rent for alternative accommodation.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the fire department have already consented to the redevelopment plan. But Mhada was insisting that it was the responsibility of the developer to provide alternative accommodation, which is why the developer approached the court.
The judges said that if the tenants did not vacate the building amicably, Mhada must take appropriate legal action and evict them within three weeks. The bench also ordered the developer to pay tenants a year’s rent.
The judges also rejected an intervention application by the tenants seeking alternative accommodation in the area.
“In the past year, we have seen many buildings collapsing like a pack of cards and many people dying. Yet people will not move out of such dangerous buildings and raise frivolous objections. In such cases, where people don’t care for their lives, the court will have to intervene and take action,” the bench stated.
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