C H S buildings in Mumbai – Disasters in waiting

By I C Naik

The Bombay High Court has recently shown serious concern about occupying a cooperative housing flat without an OC. There are more disturbing views on housing front in Mumbai.

In one more City news A division bench of justices DY Chandrachud and SC Gupte of the Bombay High Court on Friday October 25th ordered setting up special courts and special police cells having dedicated staff within 12 weeks to deal with unauthorised constructions in Thane and neighbouring areas.Reports calling for action against illegal constructions should be taken up in four weeks, the court directed.

The apex court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Harit Vasai Sanrakshan Samiti, an NGO,which had alleged that there were over 5 lakh unauthorised structures in the Vasai-Virar belt of Thane district.It may be worth noting that during the hearing, the court extended the scope of the PIL to the whole of Thane district.

The bench directed various stakeholders in the issue to submit their proposals to the government. If they failed to do so, the state government will have to give directions under the Mumbai Regional Town Planning Act.

During a previous hearing, the HC had directed the demolition of all illegal structures by December 31, 2010. The order didn’t stop such constructions from springing up.

Recently the state government have reportedly reached a decision to direct the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to form a policy on carrying out structural audits of dilapidated buildings in the city.

“The BMC will be directed to seek guidelines from the Bombay high court, as it has given rulings in various cases in the recent past. The policy will ascertain the responsibility, parameters and authority of the audit, which will avoid ambiguity,” Jayant Patil (the Guardian Minister of City said in Mumbai.

Patil was told that the BMC had 1,560 structural engineers for audits of dilapidated buildings. BMC officials also told the minister that 40,000 private and 3,000 civic buildings are more than 30 years old and need structural audit.

Chandrashekhar Oak, city collector, reportedly said, “The decision was taken as there were certain cases where there were differences in the reports by the civic and private auditors. The policy will help societies and owners of the building in making decisions about the audit.”