05 January,2011 11:23 AM IST | | Vinod Kumar Menon
Future of a thousand students uncertain after BMC serves notice to Shri Balaji International School in Malad for not having Occupation Certificate
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Nearly a thousand students face an uncertain future after Shri Balaji International School in Malad (W) received a BMC notice stating that the ground-plus-11-floor school building does not have a licence.
As the school and civic authorities are caught up in the tussle, it is the students whose fate hangs in the balance, in case of closure. The school has over a 1,000 students and 70 teachers.
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Shri Balaji International School at Orlem, Malad
The notice (copy with MiD DAY), issued by Assistant Engineer, Building Proposal Department, P Ward on December 15, 2010, under Section 353 A of Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, is marked to Ashok Gupta, managing trustee of the school. In it, the corporation has objected to the school's functioning without an Occupation Certificate.
The notice demands that "The building be vacated immediately and not to be reoccupied until duly certified by the licensed surveyor/registered architect under whose supervision it has been built and until municipal permission for occupation has been granted, failing which action will be taken."
An RTI activist, Mehul Katariya, had procured the notice and other related documents from the Building Proposal Department.
Katariya said, "I decided tou00a0 investigate the matter after local residents complained of the high-handedness of school authorities, who were depriving residents of an access road and playground for students."
Numerous complaints had been made in the past to the ward office about the alleged irregularities in the construction of the school building, which was initially supposed to be five floors, as per the Development Plan.
Also, as per fire safety norms, there must be a 6 m-wide open space on each side of the building to allow access for a fire engine during an emergency. But, at present, the access road on the east side of the school is too narrow.
Moreover, officials from the department have stated in earlier correspondence that the land, with City Survey Number 383 & 384 of village Valnai, was reserved for a secondary school with a 0.75 FSI. On compliance of seven conditions, as per the order dated May 4, 2007, the FSI would be hiked to 4.
But the school administration is accused of using its political connections for getting the FSI regularised from 0.75 to 4, without fulfilling the conditions. There had been correspondence (copies with MiD DAY) with former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and the Urban Development Department.
Katariya said, "This is a clear case of high-level corruption in the system. The school authorities did not fulfill any of the seven conditions stated in the initial government order and yet they succeeded in constructing the tower.
They violated fire safety norms, and started running the school without a playground and an Occupation Certificate from BMC, putting the future of the students at stake."
Building Proposal Department, P Ward
Officials from the department confirmed the notice to the school but refused to divulge more. An official, on condition of anonymity, admitted to MiD DAY that Section 353 A of the MMC Act states that the structure is unauthorised.
Sub Engineer Haptekar, who is in charge of the case, said, "I am not authorised to speak to the media. If you have any query, you may send it in writing or approach my superior."
The Other Side
Ashok Gupta, trustee of Shri Balaji International School, rubbished the allegations against his school.
He said that it is a deliberate attempt to malign the school by people with vested interests, who are working in connivance with local BMC officials.
He also denied receiving any BMC notice. "The entire building is legal. They have all requisite permissions to establish their rightful ownership, " he said.
"We are in possession of two certificates from the consultants who monitored the building's construction, which state that the building was constructed as per drawings approved by the BMC. The same has been submitted to the Building Proposal Department", he added.
Gupta claims the school already has a playground and that they have a 60 feet-wide road on one side. The issue is constructing another road of equal width on the east side, which has been encroached upon by a garage.
Gupta added that there are thousands of buildings in the city where people reside without an Occupation Certificate. "I would have appreciated it had the BMC taken a serious stand in all those cases. But they have just targeted me, irrespective of shelling out over Rs 25 lakh till now towards various penalties and charges," he said.
Gupta has threatened to take the BMC to court and assured that the fate of students will remain unaffected, come what may.
