Mumbai: Bombay HC granted limited protection against demolition by BMC to a three-storey school building in Govandi. Justices Makarand Karnik and Shriram Modak on Tuesday posted for July 20 the hearing of a petition by a trust that runs the school and directed BMC not to demolish it until then. BMC later told TOI that one storey had already been demolished before the stay order was served.Scholar Education Trust’s petition said Tehzeeb Islamic English School has 600 students and provides primary education to “marginalised” children from a slum. On July 7, BMC passed an order holding that the structure is unauthorised and required to be demolished under Maharashtra Slum Areas Act. As the demolition squad arrived at the site on Tuesday morning with heavy machinery and bulldozers, the trust moved HC seeking urgent relief. Its petition said “driven by selective political vendetta, the state machinery is pulling down the educational facility in peak monsoon season” in violation of the 15-day protection window mandated by Supreme Court and the state’s monsoon moratorium circulars.The trust’s advocate, Madhavi Aiyappan, said an appeal was filed before the additional collector (suburbs) on July 9, along with an application for stay, but it has not been taken up for hearing. “In such a view of the matter, we have no other alternative but to grant limited protection to the petitioner,’’ the judges said. They also directed BMC’s advocate “to immediately communicate the order to the officers of the demolition squad who, according to the petitioner, are at the site”.BMC officials said there are 64 unauthorised school buildings in M-East ward, which covers Govandi. Action against these structures will be taken after the civic body receives the required clearance from the education department, officials said.
