The Calcutta high court on Friday issued an interim stay on the demolition of alleged illegal constructions in Kolkata’s Topsia area under Tiljala Police Station limits, while restraining any business activity on the premises, according to legal news portal Live Law.
The court also withheld any immediate order on the rehabilitation of displaced residents.
West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday ordered the disconnection of power and water supply to the site and the complete demolition of the building where a fire at a leather goods factory claimed two lives on Tuesday.
Within hours, bulldozers and earth movers were deployed to demolish the five-storey building, which had come up without any sanctioned plan, a Kolkata Municipal Corporation official said.
Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury on Friday passed an interim order in a writ petition filed by residents of the house who challenged the demolition, saying it was ordered without notice. They were represented by senior advocate and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya.
Representing the KMC, senior advocate Joydeep Kar argued that the building was unauthorised and that the leather factory, which caught fire, was operating illegally in violation of a Supreme Court direction. He also said that the KMC served notices on May 12 and 13 before the demolition began.
Since the petitioners could not produce any documents to substantiate their claims, they were directed to file an affidavit with the building’s title deeds, the sanctioned building plan and the licence for the business.
The case is scheduled to be heard again on June 22.
