The Bombay High Court has addressed the illegal constructions carried out across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) while sharply criticizing the policies of the Maharashtra Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) that allowed such buildings to be constructed.
The High Court bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni added that the SRA policies offered statutory protection against demolition and eviction of slum residents for tenements that were built before January 1, 2000, and are not higher than 14 feet.
Read - Letters Reveal BMC Had Informed Deputy Collector’s Office About Illegal Structures In 2019
“It is only in Mumbai that one encroaches on government land and in return is given free housing. I asked the Chief Justice (who was earlier at the Calcutta HC) if such policy existed in West Bengal and the answer was a flat no,” Justice Kulkarni observed.
Speaking on the June 9 incident wherein a residential complex in Malwani collapsed and caused the deaths of eight children and four adults, the bench said that this was a result of “pure greed,” adding that state officials ought to consider adopting the “Singapore model” of housing for the needy.
Following a judicial inquiry into the Malwani incident, the report said that the building in question was originally intended to be a ground plus one structure, although the developer illegally added more floors to the building.
The counsel for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Aspi Chinoy mentioned that a majority of the slums in the city construct additional floors illegally.
“The slums are a problem but also essential for the working for the city. So even if the state allows ground plus one floor in notified slum areas, it needs to put a stop to further floors to prevent instances of collapses,” Chinoy added.
In response, the bench said that working people shouldn’t be compelled to live in illegal structures. “Just because people say they have no where else to live, they can't be allowed to risk their lives and stay in illegal structures,” the bench said.
The bench acknowledged that there’s currently no information on the original allottee of the Malwani land. “In the present case (Malwani), there is no document to show who is the original allottee. There is no mechanism to check,” it said.
“The original allottee is an encroacher of government land, who received the ground floor for free. He then built more floors vertically and let them out on rent to meet his greed,” the bench added.
Also read - Malad Building Collapse: Maharashtra Govt Announces INR 5 Lakhs Assistance For Kin Of Deceased