Bombay HC orders top 18 floors Tardeo-high-rise residents to vacate flats without Occupation Certificate
The Court said residents of the Willingdon View Cooperative Housing Society, while indulging in 'brazen illegalities' for years, were least bothered about their own and others' lives. 'There being no fire No Objection Certificate (NOC), no OC for 17 to 34 floors, itself is glaring. It appears that the persons who are occupying the 34 storied building are least bothered about their own lives, if this be so, how can they be bothered about anybody else, in the event of any untoward incident of any nature taking place,' the HC observed.
'Such an approach which is wholly contrary to law, cannot be countenanced, in fact, it would set an example to perpetuate illegalities. It needs to be deprecated,' The Court clarified that the said persons will be entitled to occupy respective flats or tenements on 17th to 34th floor 'only after OC is granted' by following due process of law.
A bench of Justices Girish S Kulkarni and Arif S Doctor passed an order on July 15 (Tuesday) while hearing a batch of pleas pertaining to the high-rise occupied by 50 flat purchasers of total 62 flats, which was made available on Saturday night. The bench rejected a request by senior advocate Dinyar Madon for housing society that sought stay on operation of the order citing Supreme Court order in Campa Cola case. The HC noted that during earlier hearings, the members occupying 'illegal' flats from 17 to 34 floors were 'emphatically' told to make alternate arrangements.
The bench further said that there cannot be a plea 'more audacious' than the one seeking permission to occupy flats without OC as it would lead to 'regime of complete lawlessness.'
Senior advocate S U Kamdar for BMC said it had issued several notices in respect of 17 to 34 floors to vacate their premises and said that the construction was required to be restored in conformity with originally submitted plans He argued that permitting occupancy on 17 to 34 floors would be against the law and in fact the entire building was required to be sealed for not having fire NOC. The HC said that while it will hear the plea in regard to those who occupy 1st to 16th floors having part-OC during next hearing, the BMC 'shall stay its hands in resorting to any demolition, under the notices and insofar as the illegal constructions in respect of which notices were issued.'
However, Justice Kulkarni for the bench 'unreservedly' noted that in view of its observations and earlier orders, it 'did not approve the members continuing their occupation in the absence of the Fire NOC to the building even in regard to the 1st to 16th floors which has no fire clearance or approval from the Fire Department, by way of a Fire NOC.'
The HC refused a plea to continue the earlier interim protection order of March 20, 2025 for another year to take corrective measures for regularisation and vacated the same.
'We would be justified to say that the flat purchasers who have taken law into their own hands in occupying construction which has no OC, are a selfish lot, who not only with open eyes are acting contrary to the building regulations but also have means, to defeat legal actions being taken by BMC, by indulging in several statutory violations, which can never be permitted,' the judges recorded.
'Merely for the reason that the developer, and the society and its members have resources in abundance, to first resort to illegalities and then by every possible means try to protect the illegalities ought not to prevent the Municipal Corporation to take an appropriate action as the law mandates,' the HC added and posted further hearing to July 29.
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Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
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The Print
3 hours ago
- The Print
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Indian Express
3 hours ago
- Indian Express
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Ali Alam Shaikh did not disclose as to whether the whole 15 kg RDX substance was used, or some quantity was left over. And if it was left over, who had taken the remaining RDX and where was it kept, although he confessed to RDX being brought to his house. MCOCA also requires 'prior sanction' by a competent authority, a police officer not below the rank of the Deputy Inspector General of Police, before the law is invoked in a case. This procedure is an essential safeguard against the misuse of the law that reverses the burden of proof, allows prolonged detention and relaxes evidentiary standards. The court noted that the sanction was obtained based on a '2.5 pages long proposal' with no supporting documents. 'Mere reproduction of some expressions, used in the definition of 'organised crime', 'continuing unlawful activities' or 'organised crime syndicate' to show the compliance, cannot be said to be in tune with the letter and spirit of the law relating to grant of approval for invocation of the provisions of the MCOCA,' the court said. Discarding the Test Identification Parade (TIP) of the accused, the court noted that the Special Executive Officer (SEO) who conducted it did not have the authority to do so. The court noted that the prosecution examined eight witnesses, including taxi drivers who drove the accused to Churchgate station; witnesses who saw the accused planting bombs in trains; witnesses to the assembly of bombs, and witnesses to the conspiracy. About the taxi drivers, the court said they were silent for over 100 days after the incident, and gave their statement to the police only on November 3, 2006, that two of the accused had travelled in their taxis. It observed that there was no special reason to trigger their memory about the faces and description of the accused, to enable their identification after such a long gap. Similarly, the court flagged the long gap in the case of witnesses who claimed to have seen the accused planting the bombs in the trains. The court noted that while one of the witnesses said that he saw the accused and some more persons making bombs when he entered the house of one of the accused, he changed his version during cross examination, saying he did not enter the house, but a friend who accompanied him told him about the bombs. 'Thus, since the defence succeeded in shattering his oral evidence in cross-examination, for this reason and other reasons recorded, we have not considered his evidence worth relying,' the HC noted. On the version of a person who claimed to be a witness to the conspiracy, the bench noted that while he said the accused were discussing some issues in secret meetings, he was unaware of the subjects discussed. On the statement of the witness who helped to draw sketches of the accused, the HC noted that he was not called for the trial and was not asked to identify the accused in the court. On evidence related to recoveries of explosives, including RDX granules, detonators, cookers, circuit boards, hooks, maps, etc, the HC noted that 'evidentiary value of these recoveries does not attach any importance on the ground that the prosecution failed to establish and prove the proper custody and proper sealing which ought to be intact till the articles were taken to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).' The judges observed that circuit boards recovered from two accused were of 'no help to the prosecution to establish as the prosecution failed to bring any evidence on record and to establish the type of bombs used in the present case'. Apurva Vishwanath is the National Legal Editor of The Indian Express in New Delhi. She graduated with a B.A., LL. B (Hons) from Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow. She joined the newspaper in 2019 and in her current role, oversees the newspapers coverage of legal issues. She also closely tracks judicial appointments. Prior to her role at the Indian Express, she has worked with ThePrint and Mint. ... Read More
