Maharashtra
Bombay HC Slams BMC For Inaction On Powai Road Encroachments, Calls Civic Body’s Stand ‘Complete Abdication Of Powers’
Mumbai: Calling the civic body’s stand a “lame excuse” and a “complete abdication of its powers”, the Bombay High Court on Friday came down heavily on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for failing to act against encroachments on a busy road in suburban Powai.
A bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Abhay Mantri said the corporation was statutorily bound to discharge its duties and could not adopt a position that effectively appeased encroachers.
“We are surprised by the stand taken by the BMC, which is really astounding. The stand of the BMC amounts to virtually giving up that area to encroachers,” the bench observed.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Beaumont HFSI School and its principal, Kalyani Patnaik, alleging that despite repeated complaints, the BMC failed to remove slum dwellers occupying a road near the institute. The petitioners claimed the civic body instead facilitated the encroachments by providing toilets and water.
On Thursday, the court had directed the BMC to file an affidavit submitting a plan for removal of the encroachments. It had also directed the Assistant Municipal Commissioner (AMC) of the concerned ward to remain present in court for the hearing on Friday.
Accordingly, the AMC was present and an affidavit was filed, wherein it stated only that the mobile toilets would be removed within 48 hours. There was “not a whisper” about a plan for removal of the encroachers.
In its affidavit, the BMC maintained that the stretch was a private road owned by a developer and therefore beyond its enforcement authority.
Rejecting the justification, the bench said the explanation reflected that the civic body lacked the “will, desire, courage or means” to deal with the problem.
The judges noted that the road was extensively used for public and vehicular passage. They questioned how such a “private road”, used extensively by the public, could escape civic responsibility merely because of ownership.
“We know the law — we want you to implement the law,” the court told the BMC.
Senior advocate Naushad Engineer, appearing for the petitioners, argued that statutory provisions required the corporation to ensure smooth vehicular and pedestrian passage on all streets used by citizens, including private roads.
He submitted that the builder had constructed the road and handed it over to the BMC. He further argued that even if it were a private road, and citizens complained about encroachments to the BMC, the builder would not have the authority to remove them.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the absence of a clear timeline in the affidavit, the bench remarked, “Mumbai is being surrendered to encroachers… This is complete abdication of powers.”
In its detailed order, the court noted that after the “marathon” hearing on Thursday, it had asked the BMC to provide a plan for removal of the encroachments, which the civic body failed to comply with.
The court directed the Municipal Commissioner to submit, within 10 days, a concrete plan to remove the encroachments, cautioning that it should not be an “eyewash”.
It also ordered the removal of mobile toilet units from the road within 48 hours and warned that continued inaction could invite contempt proceedings.
Crime
Mumbai: Irfan Edenwala arrested on charges of fraud and preparing fake documents, including under the Arms Act

CRIME
Mumbai; The Mumbai Police has claimed to have arrested a youth who had cheated the police and administration by producing fake licenses and clearance certificates and had obtained fake police clearance certificates on Nagaland license. At Khar Police Station, Mumbai, a person named Faiz Irfan Edenwala, aged 36, illegally renewed his arms license from Nagaland using fake police clearance certificates and illegally kept firearms on the said arms license. He has also not submitted information about the said firearms in his possession to the Mumbai Police Commissionerate. Therefore, a case has been registered against him at Khar Police Station under sections 465, 467, 471, 474 IPC as well as sections 3, 25(1) (a), 30 of the Arms Act, 1959.
The accused named Faiz Irfan was arrested in the said crime on today as the investigation revealed that he was directly involved in the crime.
The said arrested accused was produced in the 9th Court, Bandra (East), Mumbai on May 30 and the Hon’ble Court remanded the said accused in police custody till June 2. Further investigation into the said crime is underway.
Maharashtra
Eviction action against around 250 unauthorized structures in Powai’s Phuket Nagar and Malind Nagar areas

A joint eviction operation was carried out by the ‘S’ Administrative Division (Ward) and the Water Engineering Department of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation on about 250 unauthorized structures on the land of the Water Engineering Department located in the Phuket Nagar and Malind Nagar areas of Powai. This operation was conducted under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner (Zone 6) Shinus Kumar Dhunde. and led by Assistant Commissioner Samiti. Samreen Sayyad was also present. The operation was taken after observing a large number of unauthorized structures on government land in the said area. This campaign is being implemented in a planned manner with the aim of clearing the concerned land from encroachments and protecting it. About 150 police personnel, around 50 engineering officers and employees of the ‘S’ Department and Water Engineers Department and 200 labourers were deployed for this operation. This operation was also carried out with the help of 7 JCBs, 10 dumpers and other small cargo vehicles. During the operation, the unauthorized structures are being removed and the area is being completely cleared. As soon as the process of removing encroachments is completed, the work of fencing the relevant area will also be started immediately and necessary security measures are being taken to prevent further encroachments. Meanwhile, the administration has clarified that action against encroachments on government and municipal-owned areas will continue regularly.
Maharashtra
Mumbai Municipal Corporation has given three months to the concerned agencies to improve the quality of facilities provided in public toilets.

The Mumbai Municipal Corporation is always ready to provide clean, safe and dignified public toilet facilities to the citizens. It has been found that these facilities are lacking in some places in North Mumbai. Therefore, the organizations operating public toilets on the ‘pay and use’ principle have been given a deadline of three months to improve the quality of the facilities. It has been warned that action will be taken against the organizations that do not improve within the stipulated period. In line with the vision of Union Minister for Commerce and Industry and MP from North Mumbai Piyush Goyal for clean, safe and citizen-friendly public toilets, a review meeting of the organizations operating ‘pay and use’ public toilets in North Mumbai was held today (30th May, 2026) at the Zone 7 office. The meeting was chaired by Ganesh Khankar, Leader of the House, Mumbai Municipal Corporation. The meeting was attended by Deputy Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) Kiran Dighavkar, Deputy Commissioner (Zone 7) Manish Valenju, Corporator Siddhant Sharma, Assistant Commissioner (R South), Assistant Commissioner (R Central) Praful Tambe, officers of the Solid Waste Management and Maintenance Department as well as representatives of organizations operating various public toilets were also present.
It has been observed that there is a need for improvement in the basic amenities, cleanliness and maintenance of public toilets. Leader of the House
Ganesh Khankar expressed the view that such public toilets need to be improved immediately.
All toilet operators were directed to complete the work of replacing broken commodes, fittings and other equipment, repairing broken doors and windows, repairing damaged tiles and cladding, painting and beautification in the next three months and bring necessary improvements in the standards of cleanliness and maintenance.
In addition, it has been made mandatory to implement a citizen feedback system in all public toilets, maintain a record of cleaning every hour, conduct a deep cleaning campaign at least once a week and install an IoT-based odor monitoring system to control odor. Assistant Commissioners of the concerned departments have been directed to issue notices to all institutions and regularly review the improvement work. It was also clarified in the meeting that the contracts of institutions that do not bring the expected improvements within a period of three months will be suspended or cancelled and alternative institutions will be appointed in their place.
The Leader of the House said that this campaign is being run with the aim of improving the quality of public toilets and providing citizens with cleaner, safer, and more dignified facilities.
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