HC asks BMC to reply to PIL on ‘illegal’ masjid in Ville Parle

The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to file a reply to a public interest litigation (PIL), which alleged that permission was granted illegally to construct a madrasa/masjid below a railway overbridge (ROB) at Vile Parle.

A division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice Ranjit More has asked the authorities to respond to the PIL filed by NGO Jan Jagruti Seva, which stated that a masjid, spread across 1,200 sq ft, had come up on a plot where a 250 sq ft structure comprising an aaram gruh (rest room) and a jamati (people gathering for a religious purpose) already existed.

Both, the BMC and MMRDA, argued that they were not responsible for granting the necessary certification for the structure.

The PIL has alleged that even the original structure was not legal, since the BMC had issued a show cause notice in 2007. It attached a letter written on August 25, 2011 by police chief Arup Patnaik to Rahul Asthana, MMRDA commissioner, objecting to the masjid’s construction on grounds that it could could create a law-and-order problem, since the road was used for Ganpati visarjan processions, etc.

The advocate for the madrasa argued that the PIL was filed by persons with vested interests.

Keeping the PIL for hearing after two weeks, the court has asked the BMC and the MMRDA not to issue an Occupation Certificate till the petition was decided.