The Bombay High Court on Monday granted relief to project-affected people staying in Mahul and directed authorities to shift out families and pay rent till alternative accommodation was found.
A division Bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Bharati Dangre directed that 5,000 families should either be shifted out in 12 weeks or be paid a rent of ₹15,000 per month. The court also said no more people should be shifted to Mahul.
Last year, the families were displaced when the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) demolished all encroachments and illegal constructions along the Tansa water pipeline.
The BMC and the State government counsels sought for a stay on the order but the Bench denied it.
The court was hearing a plea filed by the Maharashtra government against an order passed by another division Bench on April 3, directing it to deposit ₹15,000 per month as rent and an additional ₹45,000 as refundable deposit in the bank accounts of thousands of residents and other project-affected people.
The court was also hearing a petition on urging the State and the BMC to relocate families because of various health problems that they were facing in Mahul.
In Mahul, the people were made to stay in a complex of 72 buildings surrounded by refineries, chemical and fertilizer plants, petroleum companies and other industrial units. The National Green Tribunal and the Indian Institute of Technology reports had declared the area unfit for human habitation.