People dying in illegal high-rises having no occupancy certificate: SC

Taking strong note of the recent fire incident in a posh Mumbai high-rise that claimed four lives, the Supreme Court said the people were dying in such illegally-constructed buildings which had no relevant certificates or clearances.

It also referred to the incidents of Bawana factory in Delhi and the Kamala Mills in Mumbai and said unregulated constructions were being rampantly carried out with the hope that "some day such buildings will be regularised".

A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta expressed concern over illegal constructions and wondered how such high-rises were being allowed to be constructed with no clearances from the authorities.

"People are dying in these unauthorised constructions. You see what happened in Mumbai's Parel where a fire broke out in high rise building two days back. We have read somewhere that the building did not have an occupancy certificate. How are these high rise buildings being allowed to be built," the bench said.

The top court, which is dealing with a matter related to unauthorised construction in Delhi, said "it is actually a sorry state of affairs if we look other parts of the country".

"We are dealing with the issue of Delhi, but what is happening in rest of the country is equally worrying. Shall we start taking the matter city-wise for Mumbai, Calcutta or Chennai," the bench asked.

Additional Solicitor General ANS Nadkarni, concurred with the views of bench and said these high-rises were being built due to "large scale corruption in town-planning departments and civic bodies."