HC pulls up BMC for 'insensitive' approach in providing toilets in Mumbai slum

Mumbai, Oct 9 (PTI) The Bombay High Court has deprecated the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's "uncooperative and insensitive" approach towards providing additional toilets in a slum area here and said the civic body had a constitutional obligation.

A division bench of Justices M S Sonak and Kamal Khata on October 4 directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to provide temporary toilets blocks in the area within 15 days and construct the permanent additional blocks in three months.

The order was passed in a petition filed by some residents of a slum at Kalina in suburban Santacruz, seeking a direction to the BMC to provide reasonably sufficient toilet blocks for men and women.

The petition claimed that at present, there is acute inadequacy of toilets in the area. As per the plea, there are nearly 1,600 persons living in the locality but there are only 10 toilet blocks - six for men and four for women.

The bench said this was an extremely unfortunate case and these 10 toilet blocks were woefully insufficient for the residents, even by applying the most frugal standards.

The BMC last year told the court that it would construct the additional toilets but since some portion of the land belongs to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), a No Objection Certificate (NOC) was required.

The MHADA, however, had told the court that it gave its NOC in 2023 itself and assured the HC that it would provide all assistance to the civic body.

The court expressed its displeasure with the BMC's false and misleading statements that the toilets could not be constructed as the MHADA was yet to issue the NOC.

"After MHADA's affidavit and the accompanying NOCs, the entire approach of the BMC was to find further hurdles to evade its statutory and constitutional obligations," the court said.

The BMC was only interested in discovering additional problems, leaving the residents' deprived of necessities like a toilet block, it noted.

"The entire approach, we say so, with regrets, is most uncooperative and insensitive," the high court said.

The HC said it was quite surprised with the BMC's attitude in first misleading the court by apportioning the blame on MHDA and then placing innumerable hurdles to avoid compliance with its constitutional obligations.

"The BMC is considered the richest municipal corporation in this country. Therefore, pleading lack of finance is not an option," the court said.

The HC deprecated the behavior of the BMC officer who was appearing before it in the matter and said he was only interested in finding problems rather than solutions.

"The BMC official appears to have elevated the habit of discovering problems instead of finding solutions into a veritable art," it said.

The BMC assured the court that it would install temporary toilet blocks within 45 days while constructing the permanent additional toilet blocks, which would take more than six months.

The HC said because of the officer's non-cooperative attitude, it was left with no alternative but to place the entire responsibility personally on the BMC commissioner to ensure the temporary toilet blocks are installed and provided within 15 days from October 4.

"Further, the Commissioner of BMC must ensure that the necessary survey and construction of new ground plus one toilet block with sufficient toilets for men and women is completed as expeditiously as possible, and in any event, within three months from today," the bench ordered.

The court also warned the BMC to not resort to its usual reasons cited for delay like calling for tenders, code of conduct and sanctions from higher-ups.

The HC posted the matter for hearing on November 14, by when the BMC will have to file a progress report. PTI SP GK