The BJP on Tuesday assured the Bombay high court that it would reduce the size of its office at Nariman Point in South Mumbai to 1,200 sq ft and that too only ground floor structure which was originally allotted to the party by the government.
Advocate S.U. Kamdar, on behalf of BJP, told the court that the party would reduce the office structure to ground floor structure and within 1,200 sq ft in the next six months.
The division bench of Justice A.S. Oka and Justice C.V. Bhadang was hearing a PIL filed by ‘Nariman Point Churchgate Citizen Welfare Trust’ seeking action against “illegal” structures constructed by political parties and other government departments in Nehru Garden.
Advocate Kamdar also told the court that the structure was present prior to the 1991 DP plan and it was allotted by the government so it is not an illegal structure. The petitioner’s lawyer argued before the court that even in 1967 DCR the place was a green zone and hence in any case the structure is illegal.
The bench however, is likely to pass an order for an inquiry into this matter.
Earlier, during hearing of this petition Advocate General (AG) Shrihari Aney, on behalf of government of Maharashtra, had also told the court that the stand of the state is clear that anything which is illegal should go, however he also said that the claim of petitioner that all these structures are illegal is not correct because the government had allotted the land to these parties for setting up structure. He also accepted that no building plan regarding the plot “to justify the structures” was available.
In August 2013, the high court had restrained BJP and all other political parties, which have their offices there to not carry out any renovation work. However, last year, the petitioners’ advocate told the court that despite the stay BJP had carried out construction on their office premises.
