HC: Mumbai is the only city where encroacher is given free housing

Referring to rampant illegal constructions across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR the Bombay High Court on Monday said that the situation has gone out of hand and the Maharashtra government must not have policies that permitted people to dieA bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni was referring to the Maharashtra governments slum rehabilitation policies that granted statutory protection against demolition and eviction to slum tenements that have been constructed prior to January 1 2000 and are not higher than 14 feetThe bench noted the June 9 collapse of a residential building in suburban Malwani was an outcome of pure greed and suggested the state authorities should draw inspiration from the Singapore model of housing for the poorIt 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 saidThe bench was presiding over a bunch of public interest litigations that it had initiated suo motu on its own following incidents of building collapse in Bhiwandi in Thane district last year The HC had started hearing the pleas again last month following a building collapse in Mumbais suburb of Malwani in which 12 people including eight children had diedThe HC had ordered a judicial inquiry into the Malwani incident and the preliminary report had said the residential building that collapsed was initially just a groundplusone structure Additional floors had been added to it illegally and the original allottee of the structure was not known according to the reportOn Monday senior counsel Aspi Chinoy who appeared for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC told the HC that most tenements in notified slum areas across the city had added additional floors illegallyThe 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 saidThe bench however said the working population of the city neednt live in slum tenements It said the state could draw inspiration from the Singapore model of housing for the poor The situation has gone out of control But we cant have policies that permit people to die We have to value human life the HC saidJust because people say they have nowhere else to live they cant be allowed to risk their lives and stay in illegal structures it said As per the existing slum rehabilitation provisions for the MMR those living in slums built until January 1 2000 are legally protected and cant be removed without a free rehabilitation tenementIn the present case Malwani there is no document to show who is the original allottee There is no mechanism to check It is pure greed HC 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 it said The HC will continue the hearing on TuesdayThis 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