THANE: An office of the
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) at Kausa, illegally built on land
earmarked for a road in the development plan, was pulled down by the
Thane Municipal Corporation on the orders of the Bombay High Court.
The HC on Wednesday directed the TMC to raze the office, asking the
Thane police commissioner to provide support to the TMC and making him
“personally responsible” for any problem. The fates of two other NCP
offices illegally built at Mumbra and Kalwa will be decided soon.

The TMC had in May 2012 issued notices to 171 offices of political
parties illegally built and gave them 15 days to submit proof of
legality. Of these, 93 offices were of the Shiv Sena
and 22 of the Congress. After all political parties protested on the
streets, police suggested action be put off for the time-being. But on
March 8, 2013, a division bench of justices A M Khanwilkar and A P
Bhangale, hearing a clutch of PILs, directed demolition of the illegal
structure belonging to the Kausa Autorickshaw Union and used by NCP as
its office, within 24 hours. TMC’s counsel Anil Sakhare and advocate
Narayan Bubna submitted “we are orally told the government stayed
demolition”. But Justice Khanwilkar said, “You will go by oral
instructions or the order of the court?”, clearing the decks for the
structure’s demolition.

The demolition was a blow to the NCP as the Kausa office was frequented by MLA Jitendra Awhad, seeking to expand the party’s base in Thane.

The petition against the illegal offices at Kausa, Mumbra and Kalwa was filed by Mumbra resident Mohan L Bhagat.
He moved the HC after the TMC partially demolished his hotel in 2011,
allegedly overlooking documents to prove its legality. “My hotel was
legal, but the TMC demolished it on political instructions. I then filed
a petition on how encroachment by the NCP was overlooked though the
structure was an obstacle to a DP road,” he said. He also moved the HC
for compensation from the TMC.