Calcutta High Court on Monday ordered Purulia municipality to demolish the top floor of a five-storey residential apartment which had been constructed illegally.

The order concerning the Radhakrishna Apartment in ward 12 of Purulia was issued by a division bench headed by Justice Debangshu Basak.

“The division bench, after verifying documents, found that the promoter had constructed the top floor illegally. That is why the court ordered the demolition of the fifth floor of the building within a fortnight,” said advocate Dibyendu Chatterjee who assisted senior counsel Bikash Bhattacharyya in the case.

The court order prompted Opposition parties to accuse the Trinamool Congress-run civic bodies of allowing the construction of illegal flats in exchange for hefty amounts
of money.

“It may be an example from a remote area like Purulia. If the government properly surveys flats in areas adjacent to Calcutta, at least 10 lakh people will be homeless because of the TMC’s culture of promoting illegal construction in exchange for money,” said BJP MP Samik Bhattacharya.

Many flats in Calcutta recently began to tilt, resulting in panic among the residents.

The CPM planned to launch movements against such constructions in
districts.

“Everything illegal is being done by taking ‘cut money.’ In many other cases also, the high court has issued orders to pull down illegal constructions,” said CPM leader and advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya.

The high court ordered the demolition of illegal buildings in different urban areas, including Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and Serampore Municipality, in the past two years.

The construction of the Radhakrishna Apartment was granted permission as a G+4 building in 2016.

Altogether, 41 families purchased flats in the building. However, one flat owner said the promoter suddenly started work on the fifth floor in 2019, even though the building was sanctioned as a G+4 building.

Despite moving to the Purulia municipality authorities, no action was taken.

Finally, in 2023, flat owners approached the high court seeking the demolition of the illegally constructed floor.

“In 2023, my co-owners and I filed a case before Justice Kaushik Chanda of Calcutta High Court. However, our petition was rejected because we appealed too late,” said one of the 10 flat owners of Radhakrishna Apartment.

They then moved to the division bench headed by Justice Debangshu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi.

A source said the court found the fifth floor to be illegal as it had been constructed beside a 12-foot road, and according to municipal norms, only a G+4 building can be allowed beside such a
narrow road.

“Many buildings are coming up between two narrow lanes and there is no space for an ambulance or firefighting vehicles to pass. There are many buildings in Purulia town where basic norms have not been followed. We will conduct a survey of such illegal constructions and launch a movement as Calcutta High Court’s verdict has inspired us,” said Bimalendu Konar, a CPM district secretariat member in Purulia.

Nabendu Mahali, the chairman of the TMC-run Purulia municipality, said the disputed building had been sanctioned before his tenure began, but he would inquire whether there were any illegal constructions in his area.

“We will certainly follow the court order. However, the particular building was sanctioned by earlier office-bearers. We are being very careful in providing permission for new apartments,” said Mahali.

Although he tried to wash his hands off the illegal construction by blaming his predecessors, what Mahali did not say is that the previous municipal board was also run by his party, the TMC.

Complaints about illegal standalone apartments regularly come from different areas.

An elderly couple died and at least five others were injured after a fire broke out in a six-storey residential building in Bolpur on the evening of February 10, prompting questions about whether the building followed the required fire safety norms.