For almost three years, Pauline Fernandes, 78, did the rounds of courts to get an illegal construction in her neighbourhood demolished.
For almost three years, Pauline Fernandes, 78, did the rounds of courts to get an illegal construction in her neighbourhood demolished. Now, the BMC has asked her to cough up more than Rs2 lakh as the cost of demolition.
Fernandes, a resident of Shirley Rajan gaothan in Bandra (West), had filed three writ petitions against three illegal floors that had come up in the neighbouring Thelma Villa in the guise of repairs. She filed the first writ petition in July 2003, when the boundary wall of the villa encroached on to the premises of her cottage.
The owner of Thelma Villa, Hyacinth Fernandez, and the builder carrying out the repairs, Yusuf Khan, allegedly forged documents to pass off the construction as legal repairs, the BMC admitted in court.
In February 2004 a civil court ordered the BMC to demolish the illegal floor. The Bombay High Court upheld the order in April 2004. The owner then filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court
Though the owner claimed that the demolition would affect his family, the apex court, too, upheld the demolition of the illegal construction on July 14, 2005.
The civic body eventually demolished the three illegal floors in September 2006. But more than two years later, Fernandes received a letter from the H-West ward office of the BMC, dated February 13, 2009, asking her to pay Rs2,24,250 as fees for demolition of the illegal floors of Thelma Villa. DNA has a copy of the letter.
“I am a senior citizen with a husband paralysed for the last 26 years and I had to spend nearly Rs2 lakh to get justice,” fumed Fernandes. “Now, I have been asked to pay more than Rs2 lakh as demolition charges!”
In her reply to the ward office, Fernandes has written: “Shouldn’t this be recovered from the corrupt BMC officials who turned a blind eye to the irregularity?”
“If I had not persisted, another illegal building would have come up in this gaothan,” she told DNA. “It is only with the connivance of corrupt BMC officials that illegal constructions flourish.”
Shyama Kulkarni, president, H-West Residents’ Federation, said: “It’s ridiculous that the ward office is penalising Fernandes and not its staff for overlooking the illegal construction.” She said she would take up the matter with the corporation.
Acting ward officer SR Mulgundkar told DNA: “I think it’s a mistake as Fernandes was a complainant and had filed writ petitions to raze the building. We will look into the matter and correct it soon.”
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