Ashish Shelar allowed to intervene in graveyard row
The court while asking Mr Shelar to support the petition warned him against creating any hindrance or deviating the petition.
Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Tuesday allowed Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) Mumbai president Ashish Shelar to intervene in a public interest litigation (PIL), which seeks allocation of a plot of land in Bandra or Khar (west) for a Sunni Muslim graveyard. The court while asking Mr Shelar to support the petition warned him against creating any hindrance or deviating the petition. The court also said that if the petition is compromised, Mr Shelar would be thrown out and would have to pay heavy costs.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dr Manjula Chellur and Justice G.S. Kulkarni was hearing the reply filed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in response to the claim of the petitioner that a plot of land had been reserved in Block A of Bandra Reclamation for a graveyard in the Development Plan 2034.
Senior counsel Anil Sakhare appearing for the BMC told the court that as per the policy for graveyards, stipulated allocation of 1.6 hectares per ward and a 3,000 square metre plot was allotted in response to the petition.
He added that as some graveyards already existed, allotting the 3,000 square metre plot would fulfil the stipulations of the policy for the ward.
However, the petitioner’s lawyer advocate Ashraf Ahmed Shaikh objected, saying that the other graveyards were donated by philanthropists and the BMC was compelled to provide 1.6 hectares for graveyards in Bandra and Khar (west).
After hearing both sides, the court rejected the affidavit reply filed by the BMC and asked it to file a fresh affidavit giving an undertaking to allot 1.6 hectares in Block A within a week. Dr Chellur also said that if the BMC failed to identify, earmark and allot a plot it would appoint an administrator to do the same.
While permitting Mr Shelar who was present in court to intervene, Dr Chellur expressed surprise at his inability to get a plot allotted for the graveyard even though he was from the ruling BJP party. She also warned him against delaying or deviating the petition and kept the matter for hearing on April 3.