HC orders survey of alleged encroachments on IIT Bombay land

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the collector of the Mumbai Suburban district to survey a plot of land belonging to the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in Powai, after a petition alleged that unauthorised persons had encroached upon it.

A division bench of chief justice Alok Aradhe and justice Makarand Karnik directed the collector to undertake the survey after granting IIT Bombay and the alleged encroachers an opportunity to present their case and produce documents in support of their respective claims.

If the claim is found to be true, the court directed the collector to remove the encroachments “in accordance with law”. Government pleader Neha Bhide assured the court that the collector would be provided with necessary police protection to remove the encroachments, if any.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a certain Shabbir Shaikh, alleging that three contractors had encroached upon the land surrounding IIT Bombay.

The PIL claimed that residents are threatened by “musclemen” who obtain illegal possession of the land and subsequently construct unauthorised structures on it. These structures, which are slum tenements, are then sold, leased or given on a leave and licence agreement, with the contractors collecting significant compensation, it added.

While “collecting the charge from the occupiers, the musclemen resort to criminal intimidation,” the PIL said. “The entire community living in the slums is under the grip of perpetual fear of such land grabbers.”

The land grabbers are allegedly forming bogus cooperative housing societies and engaging in large-scale, unprecedented and fraudulent sale of land through unscrupulous real estate dealers, resulting in large-scale accumulation of unaccounted wealth, the plea stated.

The petitioner also alleged that “certain lawless persons” are organising attempts to grab land belonging to the government, a local authority, a religious or charitable institution or endowment, including a waqf, either by force, deceit, or otherwise.

“The failure of the state apparatus to take prompt action to demolish such illegal constructions has convinced the citizens that planning laws are enforced only against poor…,” the plea said. It added that the unauthorised structures violate municipal laws and the concept of planned development in the area.