Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday issued a show cause notice to the commissioners of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), and the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), for their failure to take action against illegal pandals during Ganesh Chaturthi and Navratri.
The direction was passed by a Division Bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice A.K. Menon, who asked the civic bodies to explain why contempt action should not be initiated against them.
The Bench was hearing a bunch of petitions pertaining to noise pollution and a public interest litigation filed by Thane resident Mahesh Bedekar.
Dr. Bedekar said the rules were being broken during Ganeshotsav, Navratri, and Dahi Handi, when pandals were set up on roads.
The court was informed that in Mumbai, 42 pandals were found to be illegal, while in Navi Mumbai, the number was 62, and in Kalyan Dombivli, there were 36 illegal pandals.
The court said, this is a clear breach of its orders. “Unless we take some drastic steps, we do not think the authorities would comply with our orders. Unless some municipal commissioner is sent to jail, there would be no compliance.”
The court took note of the fact that no officers from the three corporations had gone to check if illegal pandals were erected despite court orders.
BMC Commissioner Ajoy Mehta, NMMC Commissioner N. Ramaswamy, and KDMC Commissioner P Velrasu will have to file their affidavits by November 30.