BMC, illegal shop owner play cat & mouse over demolition

A four-year court case surrounding an illegal shop in Dahisar has allegedly exposed the vital role BMC officials have played in the daily proliferation of such structures all over the city.

In 2005, Ramlotan Jaiswar and his son Ramesh Jaiswar had illegally constructed a 600 sq ft commercial shop on SN Dube road, Dahisar (east). Following a BMC inspection, it was found that the said shop was illegal, and the corporation issued a demolition notice in 2007. In the meantime, the father-son duo sought a stay order from the city civil court, claiming it was a legal structure.

There were, however, no documents to prove the legality of the shop. The court then vacated the stay order. The duo approached the Bombay high court, which ordered the BMC to either approve the proposal within 12 weeks, or take a decision to demolish the shop in the next eight weeks. The family submitted a petition to regularise the proposal allowing the shop to stay, which was later rejected by the civic building proposal department. The latter further requested the R/north (Dahisar) ward officer to demolish the shop.

Plans were made to destroy the illegal structure in July 2011. The duo then raised an objection stating that they had not been intimated about this, and without prior notice the BMC could not demolish the shop. Since the two had no legal documents, the R/north team went in for the demolition; interestingly, the BMC legal department then told the team that the duo had filed for a contempt of court, so they could not take any action.

After delaying the issue another 70 days, the BMC legal department finally wrote a letter to R/north (Dahisar) ward on November, 18, 2011, saying they could take action. 

Rajendraprasad Chaube, Congress corporator said, “If the BMC legal department is serious about the unauthorised construction, why did they sit on the file for 70 days? The BMC is the main culprit encouraging illegal constructions across the city.”

“The allegations against us are baseless,” said Ravishankar Malandkar, chief legal official of the BMC.  “The high court had given a stay order, and now, Jaiswar has gone to the supreme court. Therefore, we could not issue a demolition notice. We need to follow legal procedures.”

When contacted, Ramlotan Jaiswar refused to comment.