Overview
- The bench said the civic body appeared to be surrendering Mumbai to encroachers and lacking the will, desire, courage or means to act.
- BMC’s affidavit asserted the stretch is privately owned and that officials face attacks during clearance drives, but the court termed this a lame excuse and a complete abdication of powers.
- The Commissioner must submit a concrete, non‑eyewash plan to clear the road and ensure mobile toilets are removed within 48 hours, with contempt and other sanctions warned for any breach.
- Senior municipal and police officers were summoned to court and asked for affidavits committing to removal, as the Beaumont HFSI petition detailed hutments shrinking a roughly 90‑foot Powai road and alleged BMC supplied water and toilets.
- Parallel enforcement continued elsewhere in Mumbai, with 61 illegal structures demolished and about 1,100 sq metres cleared on Mulund’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Road and intensified anti‑hawker actions in B Ward.