The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday criticized the municipal administration for not taking proper action against hospitals using basement parking spaces for other purposes. Even after the court’s order, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) took some steps but the court found these efforts lacking. The court said that the officials were only pretending to take effective measures.
Hearing a PIL filed by Dhantoli Nagrik Mandal regarding hospital encroachments, the High Court bench of Justices Nitin Sambre and Abhay Mantri ordered the NMC commissioner to appear and provide detailed information on Monday.
During the hearing, NMC submitted an affidavit and photographs as evidence of the action taken against encroachments. However, the court expressed dissatisfaction, stating that the information provided was misleading and lacked clarity on who conducted the action and who received notices. Despite the High Court ordering the NMC commissioner to appear at 2.30 pm on Wednesday, he was not in the city, so the appearance was rescheduled for Monday. The NMC commissioner is required to provide clear information about the action taken by that time.
The High Court had previously scolded the NMC for unauthorized constructions in hospitals and other buildings in Dhantoli and Ramdaspeth areas. Despite these warnings, the court noted that effective action had not been taken. Once again, the court has criticized the municipality, directing them to demolish not only walls but the entire unauthorized constructions to ensure sufficient parking space.