Khushi Bajpai
Published on: 25th July 2022 at 17:54 IST
The Bombay High Court ordered the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to refrain from using coercive measures against the alleged illegal constructions by Union Minister Narayan Rane in his Juhu mansion till August 23.
The BMC was also instructed to produce an affidavit outlining its position on the maintainability of Rane’s application to keep the illegal elements of the structure by a bench of Justices RD Dhanuka and Kamal Khata.
This was Rane’s Second Application on the same subject. His initial argument was rejected by the BMC, so the court inquired with the municipal body about the viability of maintaining a second application on the same problem.
While making its decision on the application maintainability, the Bench comprising of Justices R D Dhanuka and Kamal Khata questioned the civic authority to indicate whether it would apply the Development Control and Promotion Regulation 2034 to the current structure in this matter.
Speaking on behalf of BMC, Senior Attorney Anil Sakhare emphasised that they had not yet assessed the second application. While there is no restriction on considering the second application, he made it clear that the shortcomings and flaws of the first application must be fixed in the second application.
The Counsel stated that, “BMC rejected the first proposal in the second application on the basis of merit. We haven’t examined the second application, but we will check to see if the new application complies with DCPR.”
Although numerous rulings have prohibited encroachment on highways, the Bench said that this does not grant permission to build unauthorised constructions, even if they are on private property.
On August 23, 2022, the Bench remanded the case for further deliberation.
