HC says illegal slum occupants hold law abiding citizens to ransom, holds BMC officer guilty of contempt

Moreover, it held Ajit Kumar Ambi, Assistant Commissioner of ‘L’ ward of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) guilty for disobeying the court orders. It directed him to appear before the court on January 27 to submit his reply on the quantum of sentence to be imposed on him.

The court further vacated the stay on removal and directed the BMC to complete demolition of said structures and also directed its Commissioner to file an affidavit outlining who the others were responsible for the inaction, and what action had been taken or proposed to be taken against them.

“This petition exposes how the overburdened courts and their leniency towards authorities is systematically exploited and manipulated by slumlords, in collusion with the Municipal corporators in charge of governance, the BMC and the Police,” a bench of Justices Ajey S Gadkari and Kamal R Khata noted in their January 2 verdict.

It noted that 52 slum dwellers had since March, 2000 illegally constructed and occupied structures on the road adjacent to the southern compound wall of the society.  In its plea filed in 2000, the society had also raised grievances regarding construction of a public toilet on the said road at the behest of a local corporator.

Fifteen years later, on June 18, 2015, the HC had passed a detailed order declaring the said structures ‘illegal’ and had directed the slum dwellers to vacate their structures immediately and had directed BMC to demolish the same. It had asked BMC to take actions to restore the ‘status quo ante’ at the site.

Stating that the BMC ‘simply ignored’ court orders for reasons best known to them, the society filed a contempt petition in January, 2017.

Few days after the BMC assured the court of demolishing the structures, in September, last year, the five slum dwellers filed a plea seeking restraining order to authorities until a rehabilitation site was selected. The HC had granted the stay on demolition pending the plea.

The society through advocate Meena Doshi argued that the slum dwellers suppressed their illegalities and sought dismissal of their plea. The judges noted that they were “unable to understand how the illegal occupiers were held eligible slum dwellers’ by BMC even after the court declared them as illegal. The HC noted that the slum dwellers failed to show any document to substantiate their eligibility claim.

The bench noted that illegal occupants were protected and only in October, last year, 47 of 52 structures were demolished as the  ‘law abiding society members’ waited for 24 years for their removal.

It added that denying justice to the society, the BMC, police and ‘unscrupulous elected representatives’  went ‘out of their way to protect’ wrongdoers/slumlords, instead of taking strict action against them.

“BMC’s inaction, even after court orders, demonstrates its complacency. It is these illegal occupants, who now demand relocation of their choice and as per their dictate, which cannot be accepted…. This perpetuates illegalities. Then to top it off, the government comes up with schemes for rehabilitation that are freely saleable, all at the cost of the law-abiding citizens and ratepayers,” the HC observed.