Bombay: High Court refuses to stay eviction of residents from 9 illegal buildings in Thane

A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik shared that it didn’t want citizens to live a life fraught with the risk of their buildings collapsing during the rains.

MUMBAI: On Monday, the Bombay High Court refused to let stay citizens from 9 illegal buildings in the Thane district. The High Court said that it wants all the citizens to lead a dignified life and not with the fear that the building they are living in might collapse like a “pack of cards” in the rain.

High Court mentioned “We want all of you to live a dignified life. Not a life that is always at risk… that whenever it rains, the building might collapse like a pack of cards.”

The High Court was hearing public interest litigation filed by three residents of district Thane, seeking eviction of residents and demolition of nine dilapidated illegal buildings in the Mumbra area of the district.

The petitioners’ counsel Neeta Karnik informed the bench last week that though the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) had served demolition notices and cut off the power and water supply to these buildings, residents continue to occupy the premises and have accessed water and electricity illegally.

On Monday, the TMC’s counsel Ram Apte confirmed that the civic body had served the demolition notices to the buildings in 2019 and again in 2021.

The counsel for the residents, Suhas Oak, said buildings sought time to vacate the premises.

Matthew Nedumpara, who wished to file an intervention application on behalf of some other residents of the area, urged the high court to stay the eviction process and demolition notices for some time.

The High Court informed that it had asked all residents last week to voluntarily vacate the premises only to ensure their own safety.

The bench shared “For us, the lives of all these residents are very precious.”

The High Court also directed the TMC to file an affidavit by the end of the day detailing the number of occupants in each of the nine buildings.

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