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The Bombay High Court Wednesday stayed the effect of notices issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to remove iron fencing installed by the King George V Memorial Hospital management in South Mumbai to prevent illegal occupation on its land.
The court remarked that it was anxious to avoid a situation where the encroachments increase in the future, leading to a possible proposal to convert the “whole hospital into a slum scheme”.
It said this was the last thing the city needed.
A division bench of Justice Gautam S Patel and Justice Kamal R Khata passed the order in a plea by an old hospital run by a charitable trust on 36,300 square metres at Lower Parel on Dr E Moses Road near Mahalaxmi.
Through advocate Dinesh Purandare, the hospital objected to notices issued by the BMC on December 29, 2021, and March 11, 2022, directed against the iron fencing the petitioners installed on certain portions of the property.
The petitioners found that over time, large portions of the trust and the hospital property, including 24 of 36 of its staff quarters, were under illegal occupation, and such encroachments were steadily increasing.
Purandare also submitted that there are complaints of nuisance and a compromise of the safety and security of the hospital staff, patients and residents. The petitioners put up a safety fence to reinstate the land’s normal use and prevent further encroachment, he told the court.
Purandare argued that it was “curious and ironic that BMC showed such enthusiasm and alacrity to remove a protective fence, but this municipal enthusiasm is conspicuous by its absence in regard to trespassers”. He said eviction actions against the occupants were still pending.
The bench noted in its order, “These encroachments typically run to a pattern and follow a trajectory. We are particularly anxious to avoid a situation where at some point in the future the encroachments become so many that we are confronted with a possible proposal to convert the whole hospital into a slum scheme. That is absolutely the last thing that this city needs.”
The high court granted the BMC time to file an affidavit in reply till February 5, informing if it noted any unauthorised constructions or occupancies in the open spaces or only saw the mild steel fence, in respect to which it has issued a notice.
Noting that it was an appropriate case for a grant of immediate interim relief, the high court stayed the effect and implementation of the impugned notices and asked the BMC to maintain the status quo by not taking any adverse action regarding the notice. It will hear the matter next on February 15.
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