Mira-Bhayandar: The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the trustees and the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) to submit affidavits in response to a civil public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Khush Khandelwal against an allegedly illegally constructed Dargah in the coastal area of Uttan near Bhayandar.
Direction Given To Dargah Trustees & The MBMC By Bombay HC
The bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Amit Borkar directed the dargah trustees and the MBMC to file the affidavit-in-reply to the paragraph-wise averments made in the PIL within four and two weeks respectively. In legal terms, an averment is a statement of fact or allegation that is made in a charge, information, or in the pleadings of a civil claim.
Bombay HC Pulls Up MBMC
The HC also pulled up the MBMC for dragging its feet in acting against unauthorised constructions under the provisions of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act. The counsel representing the trust submitted that at present no construction on the subject premises is being raised.
Due to their absence in the previous hearing, the HC had directed fresh notices to be served to the trustees of the dargah (respondent number 6) while indicating that in case they are not represented in the next hearing, the matter may proceed ex-parte against it.
The petitioner-Khush Khandelwal who is the founder of the Hindu Task Force had filed the PIL (PILST/6843/2024) on 2, March 2024 alleging massive illegal constructions on land measuring more than 70,000 square feet by the Bale Shah Peer Charitable Trust on protected mangrove belts located on government-owned land parcels near the sensitive Chowk jetty in Uttan near Bhayandar.
Apart from facing allegations of illegal encroachments, the shrine is also under the scanner owing to concerns raised by security agencies following reports about alleged visits of people having shady backgrounds. However, the trust rubbishes the claims of shady visitors while continuing to maintain that the dargah has been in existence for more than two centuries ever since the saint Sayyed Bale Shah Peer came and stayed here.
