Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed
the state government to ask all the municipal corporations in
the state to publish names of the developers who have sought
regularisation of unauthorised structures, in newspapers.
The division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and
Justice D G Karnik was hearing a PIL filed by social activist
Rajendra Thacker, which alleges that brochures of
developers often mislead flat-buyers.
"Name of the developer and the scheme should be published
in a local newspaper within a month of the developer filing
application seeking to regularise unauthorised construction,"
the bench ordered.
Thacker`s PIL says some of the facilities shown in the
brochures are for representational purpose only, which is
specified in a very small font-size.
Sumedha Rao, petitioner`s advocate, argued that
developers construct buildings in violation of rules and when
the corporation issues stop-work notice, they (developers)
show willingness to pay penalty.
But this is not disclosed to the buying public, PIL says.
The PIL cites the example of Lodha Developers who, it
alleges, was giving possessions of flats at a scheme in
suburban Dahisar - Lodha Aqua - without getting the Occupation
Certificate (OC) from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
This scheme was announced within days of the Thane
Municipal Corporation issuing a stop-work notice to its
project in Thane, the PIL alleges.
PTI
