An allegedly illegal five-storey building near Sukantanagar, on the fringes of Salt Lake, will have to be demolished after its residents vacate the premises, Justice Amrita Sinha of Calcutta High Court said in open court on Wednesday.
Justice Sinha also ordered the promoters of the building, which has come on a 3-cottah plot in Ward 35 of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), to pay a fine of Rs 1 crore by April 12.
The judge said: “The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation is directed to affix notices at conspicuous places of the subject property mentioning that the structure is an illegal one and will be demolished.”
The formal order had not been uploaded on the high court website till 9pm on Wednesday.
Justice Sinha said in open court the developers had not obtained any sanction from the BMC. She also said the civic body should disconnect the power and water supply to all the floors.
“You cannot rely on ignorance and buy unsanctioned properties. What will happen if this comes down? If the construction in question collapses and an accident takes place, as has been noticed in the recent past, then valuable life and property will be at stake,” Sinha said.
A resident of the neighbourhood had petitioned the court against the allegedly illegal structure.
Sumitava Chakraborty, the counsel for the petitioner, told the court that a report submitted by the BMC stated that plots in wards 35 and 36 — including Shantinagar, Naobhanga and Nabapally — were meant for “rehabilitation purposes only”.
“The urban development and municipal affairs department has the sole authority over the allotment of these plots. The allottees cannot change the purpose of the allotment and use it for commercial purposes,” Chakraborty said in court.
“The municipal commissioner, through his affidavit, has submitted that there is no record available with the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation regarding the possession and allotment of the plot. According to the affidavit, no sanction order or building plan was submitted to the civic body,” Chakraborty said in court.
Justice Sinha also came down on the civic body.
She asked BMC counsel Shirshanya Bandyopadhyay why the civic body was silent even after knowing that such a building was coming up.
Bandyopadhyay said the BMC had identified more than 330 unauthorised
structures in wards 35 and 36 and several had been served stop-work and demolition
notices.