Bombay High Court issues show cause notices to civic chiefs over issue of illegal pandals
MUMBAI: Bombay High Court on Thursday has issued showcause notices to municipal commissioners of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Kalyan asking them why contempt action shouldn't be initiated against them for inaction against illegal pandals that were set up during Ganesh Chaturthi and Navratri.
While hearing a PIL filed by Thane-based social activist Dr Mahesh Bedekar, the division bench of judges Abhay Oka and A K Menon issued the notices to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Ajoy Mehta, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) commissioner N Ramaswamy and Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) commissioner P Velrasu.
The High Court was informed that there were 42 illegal pandals in Mumbai 42, 62 in Navi Mumbai and 36 in Kalyan Dombivli. Judge Oka said, "This is a clear breach of orders passed by us in the past. Unless we take some drastic steps we do not think the authorities would comply with our orders. Unless some municipal commissioner is sent to jail and put behind bars there would be no compliance."
The civic body chiefs have been asked to file their responses to the notices by November 30 and be present in the court for the next hearing.
The civic bodies were resorting to all sorts of tactics to see to it that orders were not implemented, the court said. It also noted that it seemed that no officer went to the site to check if there were any illegal pandals.
The court had, in its orders passed last year, directed municipal authorities to ensure that no pandal was erected without requisite permission and to ensure that pandals were not constructed in such a manner that they obstruct traffic.