09 October,2024 06:10 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Bombay High Court. File Pic
The Bombay High Court has deprecated the BMC's "uncooperative and insensitive" approach towards providing additional toilets in a slum area in suburban Mumbai and said the civic body had a constitutional obligation, reported news agency PTI.
A division bench of justices M S Sonak and Kamal Khata directed BMC to provide temporary toilets in the slum area within 15 days and build permanent additional blocks in three months.
The direction was in response to a petition from local residents of a slum at Kalina in Santacruz, seeking an order to BMC to provide sufficient toilet blocks for men and women.
Currently, approximately 1,600 residents have access to only 10 toilet blocks, where six are for men and four for women, an acute inadequacy, according to the petition.
Previous year, the BMC had informed the court that additional toilets could not be constructed due to land belonging to Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), and that a No Objection Certificate is required. However,
However, MHADA confirmed in court that it has provided its NOC in 2023 and assured the court its support to the BMC.
The bench, comprising Justice M S Sonak and Kamal Khata, criticised the BMC for providing false and misleading statements regarding the NOC from MHADA. They said, "After MHADA's affidavit and the accompanying NOCs, the entire approach of the BMC was to find further hurdles to evade its statutory and constitutional obligations."
"The entire approach, we say so, with regrets, is most uncooperative and insensitive," the HC said.
The Bombay HC noted that BMC surprised them with their attitude in first misleading the court by blaming MHADA and then placing many hurdles to avoid compliance with its constitutional obligations.
The court pointed out that as one of India's wealthiest municipal corporations, the BMC could not use financial constraints as an excuse. "The BMC is considered the richest municipal corporation in this country. Therefore, pleading lack of finance is not an option," it remarked.
The HC expressed dissatisfaction of the BMC officer's reluctance to provide solutions stating, "The BMC official appears to have elevated the habit of discovering problems instead of finding solutions into a veritable art," it said.
The officer told the court that BMC would install temporary toilet blocks within 45 days while constructing the permanent additional toilet blocks, which would take more than six months.
As result of the officer's non-cooperative attitude, the HC then placed personal responsibility on the BMC commissioner to ensure the construction of new ground along with temporary toilet blocks are installed and provided within 15 days from October 4.
"Further, the Commissioner of BMC must ensure that the necessary survey and construction of new ground plus one toilet block with sufficient toilets for men and women is completed as expeditiously as possible, and in any event, within three months from today," the court ordered.
The HC warned the civic body against common excuses for delays such as tenders, code of conduct and sanctions and scheduled a follow-up hearing for November 14, by which time the BMC is expected to submit a progress report.
(With inputs from PTI)
