The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has issued an eviction notice to the management of JBCN International School, Dr Vinay Walimbe Road, Parel, for using three floors of the seven-storeyed building which have no occupation certificate (OC). Since the school is continuing to operate from the the controversial three floors the civic body has decided to prosecute the management. When contacted, the management admitted that the three floors do not have OC, but it is in the process of obtaining it.
Atul Kale, president of the Republican Party of India’s Wadala unit, alleged violations of Development Control rules by the school. According to the information received by Kale under the Right To Information (RTI) Act, the school building has been granted only part OC for ground plus four floors in the seven-storeyed building.
The school is run by the Orient Trust, with the school’s founder and chairperson Pinky Dalal, and Fatema Agarkar, wife of chief selector of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Ajit Agarkar, acting as trustees. Late Big Bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was the key investor in the school with Tina Ambani serving as an advisor.
In a complaint written to the executive engineer of the building proposals department, Kale alleged that the school operating three more floors above the approved floors poses a significant risk to students. He has also alleged that the first floor, which was originally intended for housing dishoused tenements, is being used to operate classrooms. The RTI documents revealed that the first floor was considered free of floor space index (FSI) to accommodate dishoused persons but has now been changed without any authorisation.
Kale has asked MCGM to issue a notice to the school for immediate cessation of operations on unauthorised floors and ensure that the students are shifted to another building until it receives the required OC.
According to the document accessed by The Free Press Journal, the office of the deputy chief engineer of the Building Proposal department (Mumbai city) had served an eviction notice to the school authorities on October 11. The notice had warned the school authorities of prosecution under Section 471 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act 1888 if the premises are not vacated within a week.
Although the BMC has not carried out any stringent action against the school, official sources told The Free Press Journal on condition of anonymity, that the civic body is working on filing a prosecution complaint against the school.
“We have already started off the procedure of prosecution complaint under Section 353 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act. A proposal has been submitted to the Law Officer. Once the draft is ready, it will have to be approved by the Municipal Commissioner, only after which the complaint will be filed with the respective legal authority,” said the official.
However, Kale accused the BMC of dilly dallying action since it has been over a month that he has filed the complaint. “
Through an e-mail conversation, the school management accepted that they do not have a full OC. However, it claimed that the school holds all mandatory permissions including a Part OC covering a large majority of the building.
“Regarding the final OC for a small section of the building, we emphasise that the application for the same was submitted by the landlord a considerable time ago. The process is entirely administrative and beyond our control, and we expect the final OC to be granted shortly,” the management added.
