For Anwar Malik (45), a resident of Rasta Peth, getting the civic body to evict encroachers from his private land has become a tedious task.
For Anwar Malik (45), a resident of Rasta Peth, getting the civic body to evict encroachers from his private land has become a tedious task. Despite court notices to the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) directing it to raze the illegal structures, the civic body has done nothing beyond issuing demolition notices to the encroachers from time to timeu00a0-- since 1976. Malik's property is located behind Dorabjee Hotel. The 900 sq ft plot bearing survey numbers 787 and 788 was bought by Malik in 1974. But three families, claiming to be legal tenants, have been staying on this land, decidedly refusing to budge from there. 
Still standing: An illegal structure on the plot owned by Anwar Maliku00a0
behind Dorabjee Hotel on Dastur Meher Road. Pic/Parth Satam
Malik said the PCB had itself recognised the structures as illegal. "The PCB started issuing demolition notices from 1976 and did so till 1986, but did not demolish the structures," said Malik. The issue, however, died down as Malik temporarily migrated to the Gulf for work and only returned in 2000. Malik said the PCB should have demolished the structures in the 1970's itself when the first demolition notice was issued. "My only is question is why they were contradicting themselves by only issuing notices and not acting on it, at least when the matter was not sub-judice," asked Malik.
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When Malik returned, the encroachers filed the first case against the PCB in the small causes court in Shivajinagar, challenging PCB's declaration of their houses as illegal.The court dismissed plea for a stay on demolition on February 24, 2000. The encroachers then went to the district court where a complete re-hearing was ordered, as a result of which the case went back to the small causes court.
The small causes court on September 24, 2002, however, gave the encroachers relief by granting a stay on the demolition. This is when the PCB and Malik again moved the district court to vacate the stay and the order was delivered in their favour on February 16, 2006. Later on, the encroachers moved the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court, where their pleas were dismissed. The high court directed the PCB to demolish the structures on September 13, 2007, and the SC on January 11, 2008.
A last court case was filed by the encroachers against the PCB and Malik, claiming they were legal tenants, but this too was dismissed on September 9, 2008. After the SC order, the PCB issued two notices, copies of which are available with MiD DAY, dated February 20 and 21, 2008, informing encroachers Antonette Almeda and Sebastian Samuel about the demolition.
In the February 20 notice, the PCB fixes February 27, 2008 as the date for demolition. But the next day's letter carries a correction, changing the demolition date to March 27, 2008. Then on June 13 the same year, a letter from the PCB to the Lashkar police station asking for police bandobast states that the encroachers had asked for a two-month extension from the last scheduled date of demolition. A similar letter on August 4, 2008, again asking for police bandobast states that the PCB had heeded the encroachers request for a two-month relaxation from the last fixed date of March 27.
Even after these letters, the demolition did not take place. On January 15, 2009, the PCB sent another letter to the police asking for protection and requesting them to intimate a suitable time for the demolition. Again, the same was repeated on May 21, 2009, and May 25, 2011. The encroachments still stand.
The Other Side
Manjur Shaikh, vice-president, PCB, said that sometimes the police bandobast is delayed when the cops are burdened with other duties. "This is the main reason for the delay in demolition. In such cases, we send them (police) reminders asking them to intimate us of a suitable time for providing police cover during the demolition drives," said Shaikh. Senior Inspector Sushma Chavan of Lashkar police station said she had arranged for police bandobast as soon as she got the PCB's letters. "We deploy our men to the spot, as soon as we survey the area to determine the amount of police presence required. But the PCB often does not follow up on its own requests. They send us letters asking for bandobast but then do not get back to us," said Chavan.
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