Structure on playground: Bombay high court seeks BMC, school's reply

The Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to file a reply to a petition by actor Kunickaa Lall seeking action against an allegedly illegal construction of a Madrasa in suburban Jogeshwari.

A division bench of Justices NH Patil and Anil Menon has also asked the Markazul Ma'Arif Education Research Centre (MMERC), which runs the Madrasa on the plot, to file their reply within three weeks.

Lall has alleged that the land where the Madrasa stands is reserved for a playground and belongs to a school run by an NGO of which she is a trustee. The plot originally belongs to the BMC which has given it to the school for a playground.

Jamshed Mistry and Dipesh Siroya, advocates for Lall, argued that they have brought it to the notice of the BMC but did not receive positive reply. Following this, they filed the petition.

Firoz Ansari, advocate for the MMERC, argued that they have all the necessary permissions from authorities concerned.

Advocate for the BMC sought time to take necessary instructions from the officers concerned.

The high court had earlier asked the government to clarify whether it had formed a committee to look into demolition of religious structures on playgrounds and public roads, as directed by the Supreme Court in an earlier case.