HC asks Bengal government to identify illegal buildings in Salt Lake

The high court on Friday asked the Bengal government to set up a task force led by the secretary of the municipal affairs department to conduct an inspection and identify buildings that allegedly came up illegally on state-owned land in Salt Lake.

The division bench of Chief Justice T.B.N. Radhakrishnan and Justice Aniruddha Roy, which gave the order, also asked the commissioner of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation to demolish the buildings identified by the task force with immediate effect.

“Offenders should be prosecuted under the Prevention of Corruption Act,” the chief justice said.

The order followed a petition by Salt Lake resident Suman Das, who alleged that 11 buildings had come up in wards 35 and 36 on government land.