Expedite razing of illegal structures near airport: HC

The Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the Mumbai suburban district collector to speed up demolition of purportedly unauthorised parts of buildings around Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) which were constructed in breach of height restrictions.

- Karuna Nidhi

MUMBAI:

In cases where building residents have appealed before the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA), cases must be decided within four weeks and action must be initiated after that, the court clarified.

The directions came on a plea claiming that the collector had violated earlier court orders by not demolishing all unauthorised structures.

The case stems from a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in 2022 by advocate Yeshwanth Shenoy, which raised concerns about unauthorised construction in and around the airport.

Surveys conducted in 2010 and 2015-16 had identified 137 and 498 obstructions, respectively, and nine buildings among these were under scrutiny as portions of them were obstructing the approach surface to runways, the petition noted.