Bombay High Court admonishes State for "swift demolition" of crematorium based on single court order

The Bombay High Court on Monday admonished the State authorities for acting in haste and demolishing a crematorium without following the principles of natural justice..A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Madhav Jamdar stated that after examining the documents during the previous hearing itself, it seemed to them that something was wrong with the PIL which raised objection to construction of a Hindu crematorium on the beach by the fisherfolk.“In the last hearing, even without touching the brief, we could smell something is wrong. There is a hotel near the cemetery, and that hotel seems to have set up the petitioner raising grievance against the cemetery of the fisherfolk claiming illegality. …Why would court machinery be activated for persons who are not coming under public interest, but for their vested interest!”, the Bench remarked.It had nevertheless passed an order then asking State to take action in accordance with law but the whole thing was swiftly demolished without adhering to natural justice, the Court noted.“We pass hundred orders to the State government to take action (against illegal structures) but no action is taken. We pass one order here, asking them to act in ‘accordance with law’ and the whole thing is swiftly demolished!” the Court added in surprise..The Court had noted in the previous hearing from the inspection report that the fisherfolk community to whom the crematorium belonged, had not been made a party to the hearing by the authorities like Maharashtra Coastal Zone Regulation Authority (MCZMA) which ultimately took the decision that the crematorium violated the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules and ordered demolition.“The part which we felt was wrong was that the petitioner had approached the Court and orders thereafter came to be passed by a Bench of which the Chief was not a member; since the matter was being taken up only when the Chief was not present. When the matter came up before me, time was sought, and before the other Bench orders were sought,” CJ Datta said..Senior Advocate Dr Milind Sathe appearing for MCZMA urged that the efforts by the authority was to ensure that the law was being followed and to ensure that something illegal is removed.However, the Court was not convinced on the requirement of a public interest litigation.“You are claiming, the action was taken in compliance of the Court order; if you are so concerned about the CRZ land, then why not take action for all these years since 2017 and why wait till the writ petition is filed? Why did you allow someone to file a PIL?” the Court asked..Reiterating its prima facie observation that the court machinery was abused to remove the crematorium, the Court called for proceedings of the MCZMA, the conclusion of which was the demolition order.Further, the Court also called for a register of the deaths maintained by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) pertaining to deaths which took place before 1991..The Court had in the previous hearing also summoned the Mumbai Suburban District Collector to remain present in Court, which was complied with.The Collector informed the Court that she was merely following the decision of the MCZMA.The case will be heard next on September 21, 2022.