Mumbai: The Bombay high court has disposed of a petition filed by the Malabar Hill Citizens’ forum, challenging the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) notice where contract with the forum has been terminated by the corporation on grounds that the forum violated the terms and conditions.
The court on Thursday disposed of the said petition saying that the BMC could not take possession of the 20 acre Priyadarshini Park without following due process of law.
A bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre took note of the BMC’s submission that the notice, issued in Nov-ember last year, was “only a quick notice” and that the petitioners would be given a fair hearing as per municipal rules, before any coercive action was taken by the civic body.
Therefore, the petition had been filed “unnecessarily” and considering that the BMC itself was willing to follow due process, the petitioners’ grievance against the notice would not survive, the court said.
The bench was hearing a plea filed by the Malabar Hill Citizens’ forum, whi-ch looks after the upkeep of Priyadarshini Park, lo-cated at Napean Sea Road.
The BMC had recently terminated the agreement and directed the forum to vacate the park premises by February 1.
The petitioners argued that the notice was bad in law since, without giving them a fair hearing as stipulated under section 105(B) of the Mumbai Mu-nicipal Corporation Act, the BMC had asked them to vacate the premises.
