Illegal constructions on private land promotes culture of lawlessness, corruption: Bombay HC

The seat said the legislature indispensable urgently intervene and ‘halt this disturbing trend’ and guarantee citizens travel the instrumentality and offenders get stringent punishments.

In doing so, the tribunal dismissed a plea by a pistillate challenging the 2015 bid of Chief Executive Officer of Pune Cantonment Board that directed demolition of the petitioner’s operation situated connected the crippled wrong the ‘red zone’ wherever nary operation is permitted. The court, portion rejecting the plea, besides directed the petitioner to wage a outgo of Rs 1 lakh.

A part seat of Justices Mahesh S Sonak and Kamal R Khata noted that the plea by 1 Lekha Ali Shaikh illustrated “one among galore instances of unauthorised constructions connected backstage land, notably erected by the owners themselves without immoderate anterior exertion oregon support of the Concerned Authority.”

The seat said the plea showed however the “owner initially innocently constructed a tiny operation and aft a mates of years, successful the guise of repairs, reconstructed a importantly larger operation and sought to regularise it.”

Justice Khata, who authored the verdict for the seat observed, “Slumlords often employment this strategy to make amerciable settlements systematically.

The aged proverb, ‘A driblet of poison tin contaminate the full well,’ is progressively becoming a stark reality. A law-abiding national wonders: if a lawbreaker similar a ‘slumlord’ tin conception amerciable structures connected nationalist and backstage onshore without facing the consequences, wherefore shouldn’t a backstage landowner physique without support oregon approvals? This thought promotes a civilization of lawlessness and corruption, undermining the precise instauration of lawful governance.”
The tribunal said the contiguous lawsuit offered “a glimpse of a overmuch larger issue.” “It is unacceptable that the courts stay inundated with thousands of specified cases. Often, instrumentality abiding citizens are forced to instrumentality enactment to either support their spot oregon to thrust the attraction of courts with respect to specified illegalities to uphold the regularisation of law,” it noted.

“Whilst it is the court’s unequivocal work to guarantee that citizens comply with the instrumentality and that offenders, careless of influence, are met with strict and decisive punishment, the Legislature, too, indispensable urgently intervene and halt this disturbing trend,” it added.

Petitioner Shaikh had claimed that she was the proprietor of the onshore successful Mamurdi colony successful Haveli taluka of Pune territory and she purchased 1,500 quadrate feet backstage onshore successful her insignificant son’s sanction from the erstwhile proprietor done a registered merchantability deed of 2009. She constructed 3 rooms, wholly 750 quadrate feet area, with a tin extortion connected the onshore successful 2009.

The tribunal noted that the plea was ‘silent ‘on whether the petitioner had received approvals for the operation with 750 quadrate feet country and if she had availed occupancy certificate for the same. Therefore, she could not amusement if the said operation was ineligible and simply assumed the operation was authorised since she paid spot taxes.
The seat directed the CEO of the Cantonment Board to record an affidavit arsenic to wherefore nary demolition enactment was taken for the past 9 years.