SC to hear plea by Campa Cola society residents

The Supreme Court will hear Tuesday a plea filed by the residents of unauthorised flats in Mumbai's Campa Cola housing complex who are set to be evicted Saturday.

A bench of Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice C.Nagappan Friday agreed to hear the matter Tuesday after senior counsel Vikas Singh told the apex court that it was a human problem as 40 families would be evicted.

However, the apex court did not stay its earlier order to evict of 40 owners of the unauthorised flats by May 31.

The apex court by its Nov 19, 2013 order had set May 31 deadline for the owners of 96 unauthorised flats in Mumbai-based Campa Cola society to vacate their flats.

The Nov 19 order was passed after apex court taking suo motu cognizance of the newspaper reports of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation, in pursuance to the apex court's Feb 27, 2013 order, had moved in to demolish 96 flats of the Campa Cola housing complex.

The apex court Nov 13, 2013, taking suo motu cognizance had asked the then Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati (since resigned) to submit a proposal in consultation with the flat owners as to how to deal with the situation.

However, the court set the deadline of May 31 for the compliance of its Feb 27 verdict, after on Nov 19, Vahanvati informed a bench headed by Justice G.S. Singhvi (since retired) that no specific proposal can be given to find an alternate solution to save unauthorized flat owners.