A division bench of Calcutta High Court on Friday asked the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to inquire immediately if a building in Beniapukur was coming up illegally and, if so, to stop its construction, rebuffing suggestions from the civic body’s lawyer that the construction be allowed to go ahead.

The lawyer said the civic body would pull down the structure if a probe found it to be an illegal construction.

The bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee was hearing a petition by some residents who alleged that an unauthorised building was coming up on a narrow lane opposite Beniapukur Police station.

The civic body’s counsel sought two weeks to tell whether the allegation of the petitioners was true or not.

“Why will the KMC wait till the building comes up? Why will it not find out whether the building is being constructed illegally?” Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam asked the counsel appearing for the KMC.

“If it is found to be an illegal structure, the corporation should stop the construction,” he said.

Prodded by the bench, the KMC’s lawyer soon agreed to check if the construction was illegal.

The construction work of the building would be stopped with immediate effect if it was found to be an illegal structure, the lawyer told the court.

During the hearing, the counsel appearing for the petitioners said: “Neither Beniapukur police station nor the KMC is taking action even after multiple complaints have been lodged with them.”

The KMC’s lawyer responded: “Let the construction work continue and the civic authorities will demolish the building if it is found to be illegal.”

The petitioner’s lawyer appealed that the bench should pass an order “stopping the construction work” as “the construction would continue otherwise”.

It was then that the Chief Justice made the observations.

The bench fixed the matter for hearing after three weeks and asked the KMC to file a compliance report.

Mushrooming of illegal buildings across the city is a challenge for the civic body.

Multiple calls with complaints of illegal constructions come to mayor Firhad Hakim every week at the weekly phone-in programme Talk to Mayor.

Many of the callers allege that despite complaints to the civic body, or even orders of demolition, the construction was going on or nothing had been demolished in the structure.