Bombay HC raps Thane civic body for delay in razing illegal mosque, says 'must for authorities to make people abide by law of land'

It is necessary for law enforcers to imbibe in the minds of citizens that violation of law will not be tolerated the Bombay High Court has said rapping the Thane Municipal Corporation for failing to demolish an unauthorised mosqueA division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Kamal Khata on March 10 directed the Thane civic body in Maharashtra to demolish the illegal structure within two weeks after the holy month of Ramzan ends and complete the process by April 14The court also refused to accept the corporations contention that due to strong opposition from a mob the demolition work could not be completedIn a democratic State a person group of persons or an association cannot be even permitted to say that it will not follow the law of the land and will oppose it on any ground the HC saidIt is the duty of the law enforcers to make people abide by the law of the land the court saidIt is also necessary for the law enforcers to imbibe in the minds of the citizens that the violation of law andor opposition to implement the law by the State will not be countenanced andor tolerated the bench addedThe HC passed the order on a plea filed by New Shree Swami Samartha Borivade a private housing company which claimed that a mosque and a prayer hall were illegally and unauthorisedly constructed on a land owned by it in Thane districtAs per the plea one Gazi Salauddin Rehmatulla Hoole alias Pardeshi Baba Trust encroached upon the petitioners land measuring 18122 square metres since 2013 and constructed a groundplusone structure that included a mosque and a prayer hallThe Thane Municipal Corporation TMC in January directed the trust to demolish the structure within a period of 15 days failing which action would be takenEarlier this month the TMC informed the HC bench that partial demolition of the structure was carried out but due to resistance from followersdevotees offering prayer further demolition could not take placeTMCs counsel Ram Apte told the court that a large mob had gathered at the place due to which full demolition of the unauthorised structure could not be doneThe corporation said the balance demolition work would be done four weeks after the conclusion of the Ramzan monthThe HC wondered what steps the corporation took to prevent the construction of such a huge unauthorised and illegal structureThe bench directed the TMC to demolish the illegal and unauthorised mosque and prayer hall within two weeks of the completion of Ramzan monthThe court noted that the trust has submitted it would not oppose the demolition of the illegal structureWe make it clear that the corporation shall undertake the balance demolition work immediately after the holy month of Ramzan ends and shall complete it by April 14 the HC saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever