Mumbai: Flagging the growing prevalence of illegal construction projects, which entail a wide range of frauds including bypassing safety norms, the Bombay High Court has called for stringent actions such erring individuals.
The HC made the observations while rejecting a pre-arrest bail plea of a developer who fraudulently usurped 34 gunthas of complainant’s ancestral land in Thane and constructed illegal buildings and sold them to individual purchasers by forging permissions.
The court noted that Mayur Bhagat, proprietor of M/s Shree Swastik Homes, “designed an intricate web to defraud the informant by misappropriating his property and circumventing legal procedures”. Hence his custodial interrogation is crucial as even some civic officials often connive with such fraud developers to commit fraud.
“The growing prevalence of unapproved construction projects entails a wide range of fraudulent behaviours, including bypassing safety norms, using substandard materials, obtaining spurious permissions, or misrepresenting the legal status of the construction project. These actions directly impact the landowner and flat buyers, posing a serious legal and financial risk,” Justice RN Laddha said recently.
The court said that the developers then try to legitimise such illegality which affects the public at large. “There are also attempts to legitimise these illegal activities through registering sale agreements or regularising the project by paying premiums to the Corporation. Such acts affect the public at large, necessitating the imposition of stringent action on erring individuals,” the judge added.
After going through the FIR, the judge raised questions about the involvement of the officers of the Kalyan – Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) in permitting illegal buildings to stand for many years. “Considering that the investigation is at a nascent stage and the applicant has criminal antecedents of a similar nature, the applicant’s release on pre arrest bail would jeopardise the course of an effective investigation,” Justice Laddha said adding that Bhagat has criminal antecedents.
According to the complainant, his father owned 34 gunthas of land in Thane. After his demise, Bhagat usurped the land and began illegal construction after allegedly obtaining forged and fabricated permissions from the relevant authorities and built the Radhai Complex and six buildings. The units in these structures were then sold to individual flat purchasers through registered sale deeds.
Initially, the complainant lodged a complaint with KDMC in 2020, however, the Corporation paid no heed until 9 March 2021, when the construction was declared illegal and directed to be demolished. Despite the declaration, the construction activities continued, and units were sold to innocent purchasers, and registered deeds were signed in May 2022.
The complainant then filed a petition in the HC, which directed the demolition of the buildings. However, the buildings could not be demolished in July this year, allegedly due to political interference, which prompted the complainant to lodge an FIR with Manpada police station. The buildings were finally demolished in September.
In a detailed order, the HC said that although the KDMC acknowledged not issuing construction permits to Bhagat, “it remained silent for years together” and allowed the developer to continue his wrongdoing until the HC’s intervention.