Eviction failure costs BMC, cops, SRA Rs5000

The Bombay High Court on Monday fined the BMC, the police, the SRA and the forest officer for non-complainance of orders. They have each been slapped with a Rs5000 fine for failing to submit a compliance report informing the court of the rehabilitation status of slum dwellers in Appapada of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) by May 31.

On March 29, the HC directed the state-appointed coordination panel to rehabilitate the 11,000-odd protected encroachers within the 103 sq-km SGNP premises to the Chandivali tenements by December 31, 2007.

Pursuant to earlier court orders, the state had appointed a three-member coordination committee headed by PN Mundhe, Director and Conservator of Forests, to oversee the rehabilitation of encroachers, whose names were on the voting list prior to January 1, 1995. After directing the state to provide adequate police support for removing the encroachers, the court had demanded a compliance report with details of the implementation of the rehabilitation plan.

Irked by the inability of the authorities to tender the report in the stipulated time frame, Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice SC Dharmadhikari held that this amounted to contempt of court and imposed the cost on the respondents in the case.