The high court on Friday stayed the demolition of a Tiljala building the civic authorities had been pulling down since Wednesday, after the owners’ lawyers argued no advance notice had been served.
The bench of Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury said the portions that had become dangerous following two days of demolition could be removed, but only after consultations with the owners.
The order came on a writ petition moved by three members of the family that lived in the five-storey building and owns the structure as well as the leather goods manufacturing unit that operated out of there.
A fire in the building on Tuesday killed two workers and injured three.
“Considering the prima facie case made out, there shall be an order of status quo. The petitioners are also restrained from making any improvement and/ or restoring the building to its original position,” the court order said.
The order added: “It is also made clear if any portions of the building have already become dangerous, the municipal authorities, in consultation with the petitioners, shall remove such dangerous portion; however, barring the same, no further demolition shall take place without leave of this Court.”
The interim stay will be in place till June 22, the date of the next hearing.
On Wednesday evening, within hours of chief minister Suvendu Adhikari announcing a crackdown on illegal buildings, two earthmovers, men with sledgehammers, and a large contingent of paramilitary and police arrived and began demolishing the building on GJ Khan Road in Tiljala.
On Thursday, they also began pulling down an adjacent three-storey building on the same ground of illegal construction.
Friday’s court order made no mention of the second building. Some KMC sources said the demolition of this building, too, may be halted because it had the same owner and was linked to the five-storey building by a concrete passage. Some seven or eight families of tenants lived in this building.
“The demolition was in blatant violation of the law,” Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, senior advocate and standing counsel for the petitioners, told this newspaper.
In court, Bhattacharyya had submitted: “No notice was served on the petitioners. Ordinarily, no demolition can take place without service of prior notice.
“In any event, an order under sub-section (8) of Section 400 of the said (Kolkata Municipal Corporation) Act (1980) also requires to be enforced in the manner provided for in the Act. Unfortunately, in the instant case, the entire demolition proceeding has been initiated on the basis of a dictation.”
In support of his contention, Bhattacharyya cited an order dated May 12 (the day of the fire) from the state’s chief secretary, the court order says, without elaboration.
Section 400 (8) of the KMC Act empowers the civic body to order the immediate demolition of unauthorised or dangerous constructions without a hearing. Bhattacharyya told this newspaper that it does not obviate the need for a prior notice.
Joydeep Kar, senior advocate representing the KMC, told the court that the building was “entirely unauthorised”.
“There is no sanctioned building plan. Since the petitioners did not have any authorisation to run the business, the municipal authorities have taken steps in the matter,” he said.
He said a notice under Section 400(1) of the KMC Act had been issued on May 12. It was followed by a notice dated May 13, issued under Section 412(2) of the Act.
“It is submitted that the municipal authorities are following the process of law,” Kar said.
Section 400(1) empowers the municipal authority to take action against unauthorised constructions or deviations from sanctioned building plans.
Section 412(2) empowers the municipal commissioner to use forced police eviction if the occupants of a dangerous or non-compliant building refuse to vacate the premises following a formal written notice.
Nazir Ahmed, the advocate on record for the petitioners, told this newspaper: “No prior notice was served on the residents on Tuesday. On Wednesday, when the demolition had already begun, a notice was pasted on the wall of the building. By then, it had already been vacated.”
Justice Basu Chowdhury directed the petitioners to file a “supplementary affidavit disclosing additional facts and supporting documents”.
Ahmed said “all the facts” would be presented to the court in the supplementary affidavit.
‘No business’
The court order barred any business operations from the building for now.
“Noting the incident of fire and the unfortunate death of two workers engaged by the petitioners, it is only appropriate that no business is permitted to be run from the said premises for the time being till further orders of this Court,” the written order said.
“…This order also does not authorise or give authority to any individual to continue with any illegal construction or business contrary to the provisions of law.”
Suvendu had on Wednesday announced that power utility CESC had been told to conduct an audit to identify illegal buildings housing factories and disconnect their power supply.
Power and water supply to both Tiljala buildings have been snapped. The petition sought the restoration of both.