Savvy Thakur
Published on: 11 November 2022 at 21:47 IST
The Bombay High Court reprimanded Mumbai Suburban District Collector Nidhi Chaudhari for failing to follow its order to reconstruct a decades-old crematorium on Mumbai’s Erangal Beach.
In its order, the division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Madhav Jamdar stated, “The conduct of the Collector is such that the same borders on contempt.”
The court ordered the Collector to rebuild the crematorium that had been destroyed for alleged violations of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) on September 29 without consulting the local fisherfolk who built it.
After a coordinate bench ordered a joint inspection by BMC, District Collectorate, and MCZMA to determine whether the under-construction crematorium violated CRZ norms, the authorities demolished the structure, which was situated between two resorts.
Despite the court’s explicit statement that any demolition must be legal, the bench in September stated that the fisherfolk were neither made a party to the petition nor informed.
On November 10, the matter was placed on hold by the court pending reporting compliance.
The Deputy Collector addressed a letter to the BMC dated October 10, 2022, to AGP Abhay L. Patki. Magistrate P/North of the BMC answered on 10 November expressing that a gauge of Rs.29,64,400 has been arranged for the reproduction work to be given to the BMC by the Gatherer.
Even though the court instructed the Collector to take immediate steps for the crematorium’s reconstruction, the court stated that the ten-day delay in writing to the BMC, if it was even necessary, had not been explained.
The court read the written instructions that the Collector gave Patki. The court noted that on October 31, 2022, the Collector wrote to the Slum Rehabilitation Authority to request permission from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority for the crematorium’s reconstruction.
The Court stated that “This has appeared to us to be strange and surprising because the order dated 29th September 2022 does not stipulate obtaining such permission as a pre-condition since the crematorium..”
“..prior to being dismantled, was in existence before coming into force of CRZ Notification dated 19th February 1991 imposing restrictions and also because the direction for reconstruction was made bearing in mind the maxim actus curiae neminem gravabit,”.
The court was tempted to issue the Collector a notice of contempt, but Patki stated that the Collector had no intention of disobeying any judicial order. He further presented that time was taken to follow official conventions as per regulation.
The hearing was postponed until November 11 at 2:30 p.m. by the court to “test the Collector’s bona fides.”
Before the hearing begins, the court ordered the Collector to submit a compliance report. In addition, the court stated that the Collector may transfer Rs 29,64,400 to the BMC during this time.