The Bombay high court on Monday asked the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) to explain how it had permitted buildings without an occupation certificate (OC) to be taken over by residents. The court also sought to know from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya if he had scuttled an inspection ordered by the housing minister in 2020.
A division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Madhav Jamdar was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Earth, an NGO. It had sought an inquiry into the cancellation of a joint probe of 68 SRA projects in October 2020.
The HC was informed that though the NGO had initially filed a writ petition, it was converted into a PIL by a coordinate bench after it was told that the inspection was allegedly cancelled based on a letter Somaiya had written to the SRA CEO on October 10 and the BJP leader’s failure to appear in the court to explain his position.
The NGO had claimed that it had identified the projects where there were blatant violations of development control regulations (DCR) and the buildings that were constructed before the 2012 approved plans. In most of these projects, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had issued stop work notices while in 68 cases, the files were transferred to the SRA in January 2012 which granted concessions to regularise the illegal buildings. The petitioner had sought directions to the SRA to reschedule the inspection of these 68 sites.
On Monday, Somaiya’s lawyer said the NGO had no locus standi on the issue and hence, the PIL was not maintainable.
The court replied, “What if we take it suo motu? What is your objection? An illegality has been brought to our notice.”
The bench asked the SRA lawyer whether it had allowed any buildings to be occupied without an OC, to which the latter said the permission was granted only after fulfilling certain conditions. The court then directed the SRA to put its explanation in an affidavit by Friday.
About the violations, the bench said, “The allegations include permission granted by the SRA to occupy buildings without an OC; permission to construct beyond permissible FSI, and brazen violation of provisions of relevant DCR.”
The matter has been posted for further hearing on October 17.