Indian Express 24.05.2010
HC notice to PMC over Baner foothill construction
Express News Service Tags : court, corporation Posted: Mon May 24 2010, 05:14 hrs
Pune: The Bombay High Court has issued notices to the Pune Municipal Corporation, Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Zagade, the state government, Department of Town Planning and a builder questioning the construction at the foothills in Baner.
The notices follow a PIL by the Baner Citizens’ Forum. “Construction of a commercial project is on at survey no 1 and 6 in Baner. Extensive digging is being carried out, eating into the slope,” said forum president Lt Col (retd) Ashok Thombre.
The forum had sent an e-mail to apprise Zagade of the issue a couple of months ago. “After two more reminders and visits to PMC, we got a written reply that was ambiguous and misleading. It did not address the issue, after which we decided to get the facts ourselves. Later, we filed the PIL,” Thombre said
The HC has admitted the petition and asked all the five parties mentioned above to file replies by June 24. It also declared that the said construction would be subject to the result of the petition. “We received the HC notice last week. Since it is the court’s vacation, we shall file our reply by June 24,” said PMC deputy engineer (building permission department) Sudhir Pansare.
He said the PMC had permitted construction legally after completion of all formalities.
