Spelling a relief for the beleaguered residents of the Campa Cola society in Mumbai, the Maharashtra government told the Supreme Court on Friday that it was inclined to consider regularising the illegal flats as per law.
The Devendra Fadnavis government informed a Bench, led by M.Y. Eqbal, that fresh applications would be looked into under the Floor Surface Index (FSI) rules.
The Bench advised the residents, facing eviction, to move the State government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for regularisation. It clarified that its successive orders of February 27 and October 1, 2013 would not prevent the government from considering the applications afresh.
The hearing came on an application moved by the residents for the court’s intervention with the civic body and the government to consider either regularisation of their flats or “any other legitimate remedy,” including “implementation of the existing policies and laws and even formation of new policies as required.”
“The flat owners are largely middle-class families and all individual tenements measure between 500 sq.ft and thereabouts. These middle-class citizens are being denied their rights under the existing laws and policies,” the application said.
But the BMC strongly objected to the plea, arguing that the regularisation of the flats would have a serious impact not just in Mumbai but across the country.
The flats were built about 30 years ago without the civic body’s permission.
