Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court’s stern stance against structures within public gardens has prompted the contractor operating the food plaza at Nagpur’s Veer Savarkar Nagar Garden on Khamla Road to pledge removal of its temporary structure. On Thursday, the court mandated the contractor to furnish a compliance report within four weeks whilst adjourning the hearing until April 4.
The division bench comprising Justice Avinash Gharote and Justice Abhay Mantri issued the directive while hearing a PIL filed through counsel Tushar Mandlekar, arguing that the construction contravenes the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act, and the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act. The petitioners maintain that the project commenced in Dec 2022 without necessary approvals or resident consultation.
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The petitioners, Rajesh Swarnkar and others, asserted that the Savarkar Nagar Garden is a public utility space designated for community use. However, they alleged that private entities have endeavoured to utilise the area for commercial purposes since Dec 2022. The petition stated that construction was initiated without requisite approvals or addressing local residents’ objections.
Previously, the court had directed the contractor to submit an affidavit guaranteeing that the site would not be used for commercial purposes. In response, Murli Chavan, operating the food plaza, submitted an affidavit stating that his 2019 agreement with the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model permitted commercial activity at the site, thus refuting the allegation of illegal construction.
In the previous hearing, NIT asserted that No Objection Certificate (NOC) from residents is not mandatory for projects on Public Utility (PU) land.
