HC wants demolition of illegal buildings in Uran

Observing that there was “overwhelming evidence of material suppression, misleading actions, and apparent collusion” between property developers in Uran and officers of the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), the Bombay high court recently ordered the Navi Mumbai planning authority to demolish an illegally constructed complex of five buildings in the Chanje village in Uran taluka in four weeks.

- Mayura Janwalkar

“We find this to be yet another case where the authorities have been complicit in promoting and tolerating illegal and unauthorised constructions, despite being consistently alerted through written complaints from citizens,” a division bench of justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata observed in its June 20 order.

However, the respondents in the case—land owner Vivek Deshmukh and the developer, Vinayak Developers—approached the Supreme Court, which on June 27 granted an interim stay on the high court’s order until it hears the case further. “We make it clear that no eviction operation shall be carried out without the leave of this court,” the apex court said.