Bombay HC: BMC can’t build toilets anywhere

Mumbai: The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday observed that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation cannot construct toilets anywhere and everywhere in the city under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan scheme. The BMC had filed an application asking the HC to recall its June 2017 order directing the civic body to demolish a toilet in Borivali constructed on the land reserved for a garden. According to the petitioners, the toilet was constructed in 2009, before the launch of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

The division bench of Justice A.S. Oka and Justice P.N. Deshmukh was hearing a petition filed by Om Sai Karan Palace Cooperative Housing Society Ltd at Eksar village in Borivali (West). According to the petitioner’s lawyer Satyaprakash Sharma, there is a piece of land next to the housing society, which has been reserved for the garden. The petition’s lawyer said in 2009-10 the Maharashtra Housing And Area Development Authority (MHADA) constructed 10-toilet blocks without taking permission from any authority, and it is not maintained due to which the sewage tanks of the facility overflow leading to human excreta flowing all over the said plot.

He added that apart from its foul stench the society residents are troubled by breeding of mosquitoes, rats and other insects and animals. They told the court that they are facing several health hazards and have filed dozens of complaints to different authorities but to no avail.

On Friday, the BMC lawyer furnished a copy of a letter in the HC issued by the central government in June 2015. According to the BMC, this letter has stated that no permission is required to construct toilets in slum areas under the Swacch Bharat Mission.