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‘Demolished without hearing fisherfolk’: Bombay High Court orders restoration of crematorium – India Today

The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Mumbai Suburban District Collector to reconstruct a crematorium on Erangal Beach in Mumbai’s Malad area, which was demolished some time ago.

The court also imposed a Rs one lakh fine on the petitioner, Chetan Vyas, and stated in the order that the administration should recover the cost of construction or repair from him.

The bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Madhav Jamdar, while dictating the order, said, “The Maharashtra government and the Mumbai Suburban District Collector shall take steps for reconstruction or repair of the crematorium at the same site within one month. The Deputy Collector shall oversee this and submit a compliance report to this court on November 10.”

Vyas’s petition had raised concerns about the fishermen’s community’s unauthorised construction of a Hindu crematorium on the beach. The plea alleged that the construction violated Coastal Regulation Zones (CRZ) rules. The community, however, had not been made a party to the plea. The court had previously stated that “court machinery was abused to ensure the removal of the crematorium.”

The crematorium was demolished after a different bench of the high court ordered a joint inspection of the crematorium. The collector ordered the demolition shortly after the inspection. The court was informed after the demolition that the collector had done so without hearing the community.

The Collector was asked to explain her actions, and she stated in court that she was only following orders from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority. The MCZMA, on the other hand, claimed that it had only asked that the Collector’s Office investigate and take appropriate action.

The crematorium was used by the fisherfolk community around the beach, and it was demolished by the collector’s office without following due process of law, as the court had held earlier.

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Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/law/high-courts/story/demolished-without-hearing-fisherfolk-bombay-high-court-orders-restoration-of-crematorium-2006609-2022-09-30