Bombay high court tells 2 senior BMC officers to pay costs of Rs 11 each for delayed action against ward officer over illegal structure razing in south Mumbai building

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has ordered two senior BMC officers to pay Rs 11 each as costs for delay in initiating action against a ward officer who had not demolished an unauthorised construction in a building in Fort."In order to ensure that the message goes out loud and clear to the corporation that the orders of every court should be acted upon with promptitude, we are imposing costs of Rs 11 to be paid by Chanda Jadhav, deputy municipal commissioner (zone-I), and by Ashwini Joshi, additional municipal commissioner (city), from their respective salary accounts," said Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Abhay Mantri on February 9, directing the amounts to deposited within two days with Kirtikar Law Library in the high court.
The suit filed by Green Twig Estate Management Pvt Ltd — landlord of Kirti Chambers — seeking demolition of a tenant's illegal mezzanine floor was dismissed as statutory notice was not issued to BMC. The landlord appealed before HC. On August 5, 2024, after HC recorded that BMC had initiated action, the appeal was withdrawn. Since no action was taken, another petition was filed.On December 23, 2025, BMC's advocate Vaishali Ugale submitted an August 10, 2024 speaking order. The judges said besides passing a "cryptic" order, no further steps were taken to demolish the structure. The order mentioned that if the structure is not razed by the tenant, it will be demolished by the office of the assistant municipal commissioner of A ward. Therefore, HC directed assistant municipal commissioner Jaydeep More to remain present the next day.On December 24, 2025, Ugale said "inadvertently the order could not be complied with". The judges directed BMC to initiate action against More, who was present, "for having failed in performance of his duty". The petition was disposed of and kept for compliance on January 30, 2025, but could not be heard. BMC issued More a show-cause notice the same day.Questioned about the delay on February 9, Ugale submitted the original file. The judges noted she had prepared a report for transmission of the December 24 order on December 26. On December 30, the file was dispatched to Jadhav who signed the order "9 days later" on January 8. Thereafter, it reached Joshi who signed it "19 days later" on January 27. BMC municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani on January 28 "promptly" directed the issue of show-cause notice to More. The judges found "the matter was delayed on account of delayed action at the desks" of Jadhav and Joshi. Show-cause notice to More was issued on January 30, when the matter was listed.