Sakina Tashrifwala
Published on: 30 September 2022, at 19:57 IST
The Bombay High Court ordered the Mumbai Suburban District Collector to reconstruct a crematorium on Erangal beach in Mumbai’s Malad area, which was demolished some time back.
The bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Madhav Jamdar also charged the petitioner, Chetan Vyas, with a one lakh rupee fine and directed the administration authorities to recover the cost of repair from him.
The court also said that, “The Maharashtra government and the Mumbai Suburban District Collector shall take steps for reconstruction or repair of the crematorium at the same site within one month. The Deputy Collector shall oversee this and submit a compliance report to this court on November 10.”
The petition filed by Vyas raised concerns regarding the fishing community’s unauthorised construction of a Hindu crematorium on the beach. The plea also submits that the illegal construction also violates Coastal Regulations Zones (CRZ) rules.
However, the community is yet to be made a party to the plea. The court has, in its previous hearing, stated that “court machinery was misused to ensure the removal of the crematorium.”
The crematorium in question was demolished earlier after a different bench of the High Court gave orders for joint inspection of the crematorium. Shortly after the inspection, the collector ordered the demolition, without hearing from the community.
The Collector, who was by the bench, was questioned to explain her actions, and in her answer, the Collector stated that she was only following the order from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority(MCZMA).
The MCZMA, in its defence, claims that the Collector’s office should investigate and take appropriate action.
The crematorium was used by the fishing community around the beach, and it was demolished by the collector without following the procedure of law, as held by this Court earlier.