SC throws out Campa Cola society residents' plea

The Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed as "misconceived" and "non-maintainable" a plea by residents of Mumbai's Campa Cola Housing Society to restrain BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation from evicting them.

The apex court bench of Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice C. Nagappan, dismissing the plea, said the petitioners have held back from it the details of earlier proceedings and orders passed by it (apex court) in the matter.

The court also dismissed the plea to restrain the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation from demolishing the unauthorised flats whose occupants were being evicted till their curative petition was decided by the court.

The residents of the unauthorised flats in their fresh plea said they have come across some details that the municipal corporation was paid all the penalties for the regularisation of the flats, and this information was not before the apex court when it passed the eviction order.

They said they got this information through responses to their Right to Information application.

It was on the strength of this information that residents requested the court to put on hold their eviction and to revisit its earlier order directing them to vacate flats by May 31, 2014.

Every matter that comes to this court has a humanitarian dimension, the court said that as senior counsel Raju Ramachandran appearing for the owners of unauthorised flats sought to invoke the humanitarian cry to abort the eviction and save the flats that were built some 30 years back.

"Every single case is a humanitarian problem. Whether a person is in jail or he wants to come out of it, all problems are humanitarian. Otherwise, there will be no need for courts," observed Justice Khehar.

"Every proceeding must come to an end. If there is an order, you must obey," Justice Khehar said.

Ramachandran said: "It is virtually a mercy petition. People have been asked to vacate and flats will be demolished."

The apex court by its Nov 19, 2013, order set May 31, 2014, deadline for the owners of 96 unauthorised flats in the Mumbai-based Campa Cola Society to vacate their flats.

The Nov 19, 2013, order was passed after the apex court took suo motu cognizance of the newspaper reports that the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation, in pursuance of the apex court's earlier order of Feb 27, 2013, had moved in to demolish 96 flats of the Campa Cola housing complex.

The apex court Nov 13, 2013, asked Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati (since resigned) to submit a proposal in consultation with the flat owners as to how to deal with the situation.

However, the court set the deadline of May 31 for the compliance of its Feb 27, 2013, verdict.

After Nov 19, 2013, Vahanvati informed the apex court bench, headed by Justice G.S. Singhvi (since retired), that no specific proposal can be given to find an alternate solution to save unauthorized flat owners.