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Synopsis

The Bombay High Court on Monday told the Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) that it was encouraging private mafia of illegal encroachments. 

The observation was made while the court was hearing an intervention application seeking a stay on the notices issued by the Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation to the occupants of 41 buildings who were residing on an illegal structure designated for the construction of a sewage treatment plant and dumping ground.

The division bench of the Bombay High Court, comprising Justice MS Sonak and Justice Kamal Khata, was hearing a petition against illegal encroachments and inaction by the Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC). 

The occupants of 41 buildings sought a stay on the demolition by filing an intervention application.

During the hearing, the bench emphasized that the high court could not pass an order in an intervention application filed by the occupants. The bench stated that the occupants should have filed a separate petition seeking a stay on the demolition.

The bench further remarked that the occupants were victims of the developers, indicating the broader issues of unauthorized constructions and the responsibilities of municipal bodies in managing urban infrastructure development.

Advocate Warunjikar, representing the petitioner, added that the situation in most municipal corporations was similar, attributing the problem to the involvement of municipal officers.

Advocate Swati Swagekar, representing the Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC), submitted that the property was not under the control of the corporation but was under the control of CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Corporation).

The bench then responded to Swagekar and said, “That is the last thing that VVCMC should say. You are a state. If you encourage things, whether a private party or someone else, you are encouraging a private mafia. It is for you all to stop it. Poor people are getting completely ruined in this,” Justice Khata said.

The bench while dismissing the IA and disposing off the petition said that sewage treatment plants and dumping grounds were essential for the citizens in the locality.

“Sewage treatment plant and dumping ground is essential and cannot be usurped by any party which is detrimental to the civic interest of all others in the locality. The fact that intervenor has agreement or petitioner has himself registered agreement is not a good ground to protect for construction wholly unauthorized and put up on site where construction should never have come up,” the order reads.

However, after the bench was informed that a government resolution in force does not allow authorities to demolish sites during the rainy season, the high court said that if the occupants file an undertaking to vacate after 30 September then no demolition shall take place till 30 September.

The bench also asked VVCMC to file a compliance report by 14 October 2024.