HC asks Maha govt to inform status of illegal police chowkies

The bench of Justice S A Bobade and Justice Rajesh Ketkar was hearing a PIL filed by social activist Indur Chhugani alleging that there were nearly 300 illegal police chowkies in the city, which were constructed without the permission of the civic body.

The court had earlier expanded the scope of the PIL to cover such illegal police chowkies existing all over the state.

Hearing both the sides today, the court asked the state government to inform within two weeks the status of such police chowkies in Greater Mumbai, specifying how many of them had been demolished or regularised.

Similarly, about police chowkies which may have come up illegally in other parts of the state, the court asked the state to file an affidavit within a month giving their particulars.

Earlier, the court had threatened to pull down 269 illegal police chowkies, if the police failed to obey its orders of razing these structures immediately.

The court wanted to know today the status of such chowkies in the state and asked the government to file affidavits within a month.

In the PIL, Chhugani had alleged that unauthorised police outposts had come up even on sidewalks, which were being sponsored by builders and other private business houses.

Chhugani had brought to the High Court's notice in the PIL filed in 2007 that there were around 300 unauthorised police outposts on Mumbai roads and pavements. The petition forced the police to assure the court that within six months all these chowkies would be removed.