India News | Highest Echelons of Mumbai Civic Body More Concerned About Private Developer Than Public Interest: HC Raps BMC
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Bombay High Court has directed a private builder to vacate within a month the premises reserved for the expansion of the Nair Hospital run by the Mumbai civic body, and rapped the latter for its "sheer apathy" in the matter.
Mumbai, Oct 12 (PTI) The Bombay High Court has directed a private builder to vacate within a month the premises reserved for the expansion of the Nair Hospital run by the Mumbai civic body, and rapped the latter for its "sheer apathy" in the matter.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik in its judgment of September 30, a copy of which was made available on Wednesday, also noted that the highest echelons of the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) safeguarded the interests of a private builder instead of protecting public interest.
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"This is a matter where instead of safeguarding public interest, the interests of a private developer are sought to be safeguarded by not only condoning and overlooking the gross material irregularities," HC said.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had in 2008 permitted Rubberwala Developers to occupy almost 5,000 sq ft as a licencee of godowns on the Mumbai Central land acquired in 1992 for the "public purpose'' of the civic hospital's expansion, but where now stands an office building, in which the builder has his office.
The high court directed the developer to vacate the premises within a month.
The high court said that "shockingly" in 2009 the then additional municipal commissioner and municipal commissioner (MC) had granted "repair permissions on a structure that was not even in existence", while some subordinate officers "on a correct assessment of the situation recommended that the developer should be evicted and Nair Hospital be handed over the premises."
"In a city like Mumbai, where space comes at a premium, the sheer apathy on the part of the MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) to get back the premises and hand it over to Nair Hospital is appalling," the court said.
We wonder why the top officials of the MCGM have been so kind to the Developer at the cost of Nair Hospital, it added.
The court added that the then additional municipal commissioner did not pay any heed to the request of the Dean, who was time and again requesting for the possession of the land which was acquired for the public purpose of extension of Nair Hospital.
"We are sorry to observe that not only the irregularities are overlooked but the authorities of the MCGM appear to have indirectly assisted the developer at every stage by ignoring the genuine pleas made by the Dean, Nair Hospital and some of its own officers," the judgment said.
"We feel sorry for the Dean of the Nair Hospital who has been treated so shabbily by the MCGM, thereby depriving the patients with medical conditions and their relatives accompanying them of some basic needs, all for the benefit of a private developer. We cannot allow public interest to be defeated in the manner that is sought to be done by the MCGM," it added.
The HC order came on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in 2013 by a Mumbai central resident, Imran Qureshi, which sought order to get the builder to hand over premises to BMC for Nair hospital expansion.
"Public health is one of the most important functions to be discharged by the BMC and yet till date the civic body has shown no urgency in getting back the premises from the builder," the HC noted.
The land, adjacent to the Nair Hospital, which had two godowns and was originally owned by Hindustan Spinning and Weaving Mills Ltd, was acquired in 1992 for Rs 2.5 crore.
"We are saddened to note that instead of safeguarding public interest, the then officials of the MCGM have all gone out of the way to promote the private interest of the developer. All this at the cost of the citizens for whom the state government had acquired the land in a prime location at Mumbai to cater to their health and medical needs," the court said.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)