HIGH COURT ON ITS OWN MOTION (IN THE MATTER OF JILANI BUILDING AT BHIWANDI) Vs. BHIWANDI NIZAMPUR MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Alarmed and deeply pained by incidents of collapse of buildings resulting in loss of lives, we had initiated this suo motu PIL on 24/9/2020. The incident then was a collapse of a building known as "Jilani Building " at Bhiwandi, taking away 38 lives. Added to this incident, was an incident of collapse of another structure on 9/6/2021, this time being a slum structure situated at "Malwani Slums " in which 12 persons lost their lives. The situation is such that different categories of structures, either private or in slums, old or comparatively recent, are vulnerable to a collapse posing constant threat to the lives of innocent people. The past incidents have shown a spree of human lives being lost which has continued unabated. Being confronted with such collapse, by our order dated June 11, 2021 we appointed a commission headed by Justice Mr J.P. Devdhar (Retd.) to make a report on the questions as set out in our order, to be submitted to this court. We ponder as to how long this unending cycle of sustaining buildings in ruinous state, uncontrolled illegal and unauthorized constructions, and amongst them the ghost of countless number of dilapidated buildings, would haunt innocent people. The deeper we dive into these issues, the scene gets murkier.

(2.) What possessed us was a poignant hope and optimism that things would improve and drastic steps would be taken by the concerned authorities to prevent building collapses. In the deepest of our hearts, we were concerned for the human lives being lost in these building collapses. We believed, with certainty, that the strong arms of law were required to be used firmly, not only to punish the disorderly, but also, to save the lives of those who become victims of unscrupulous elements in the society, who indulge in illegal constructions at the cost of human lives. When we say so, we are not only referring about those persons who undertake unauthorized constructions, but also about those public authorities who knowingly shut their eyes to their official duties and bring about a situation, where innocent people lose their lives, due to brazen dereliction in discharge of their public duties and/or by their contemptuous inactions.

(3.) We are informed by the Corporation that a vast portion of the scarce land in the city is under slums, which includes all kinds of lands, namely, the State Government lands, land belonging to public bodies as also to a small extent, private lands. The percentage of population in Mumbai and outskirts is also too large. We wonder, that when slums are openly allowed to proliferate on scarce and valuable public land, whether the well established principles under the "rule of law " at all prevails in relation to the rules, to transfer ownership of such lands from the "State " to the private parties. Something which possibly does not happen elsewhere in the country, is what has pained us, namely, that sustained encroachment on valuable government land in this city is encouraged to the benefit of encroachers and developers and becomes available for commercial exploitation. It cannot be expected, that on executive instructions and subordinate legislation, the State 's ownership of land stands divested. The severity is such that when this land is being taken away by these forces, the owner of the land, namely, the Government or a public body and sometimes the private owner (if fails to assert his rights), has no say whatsoever. It becomes a situation of fait accompli. Is this the manner in which the law would require scarce public largesse or private land to be siphoned off, merely because it has the garb of a slum? Whether or not the doctrine of public trust applies when the government land is taken away in a manner not known to the Constitution? Whether the might of the unscrupulous forces is so strong that even the law makers would turn a blind eye to such Constitutional requirements ? These are some of the issues raising a deeper concern when we think about collapse of structures in the slum areas.