South Bombay building occupants may be evicted for flouting norms

Civil court has ordered authorities to serve notices to the occupants of Parekh Market in person. Pic/Sameer Abedi

Some occupants of Parekh Market Co-operative Society at Opera House may soon find themselves without a roof over their heads thanks to violations of fire safety norms by a South Mumbai builder. City civil court judge Sanjay Yadav in his recent order directed the Mumbai fire brigade to initiate action against the society for violating rules. The occupants of the top two floors will accordingly be served eviction notices.

The BMC had filed a case against the society for not following procedures. Fire brigade officials will go by Section 8 (1) of the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006 that entails serving an eviction notice to occupants in cases of not abiding by fire safety norms.

In its order issued on January 20, the court has categorically mentioned that authorities should serve notices to the occupants in person. "Failing to comply with the notices may result in disconnection of electricity and water supply to the flats," the order stated.

In 2015, the fire department had urged the BMC to revoke the Occupation Certificate (OC) of the top two floors of Parekh society. The action was recommended after the structure's height was found to be not in proportion with the amount of space mandated by the fire brigade.

H D Parab, deputy chief fire officer (Byculla division), too, said the department would "disconnect water and electricity supply if occupants of the ninth and tenth failed to comply with the eviction order."

The four-decade-old building was initially built with eight floors and two additional floors were constructed in the 1980s. When the developer applied for an OC, the fire department had asked for an undertaking that a five-metre open space will be maintained in front of the building for the hassle-free movement of fire engines in case of an emergency. However, in 2015, a fire officer wrote to the Building Proposal (BP) Department of BMC to revoke the OC as the developer had failed to abide by the rules.

Occupants clueless
While the developer remained unavailable for the comment, the chairman of the society disconnected the call before answering any questions by mid-day.

An occupant of the top floor said he was not aware of the case or the orders passed by the court.

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