Children Drown In Open Water Tank: Bombay High Court Seeks Exact Details Of Family's Hutment Demolition From BMC

The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to submit an affidavit providing details on the demolition of a family's hutment, which was the residence of the family of two deceased boys who drowned in an open water tank at a civic garden in Mumbai.

A division bench of Justice GS Patel and Justice Kamal Khata, in a suo moto PIL for fixing accountability on civic bodies for such accidents and deaths said –

“The reason we have placed the matter today is to allow the BMC an opportunity to place on Affidavit first, in regard to the demolition, the exact details. In particular, we will need to know whether that demolition was scheduled, was after notice and what procedure was followed prior to the demolition being carried out. We require this because it should not accidentally be suggested without factual basis or contrary to the record that the demolition was some sort of ad hoc action by the BMC.”

The court had listed the matter on Monday due to news reports stating that the family's tenement was demolished after the court took suo moto cognizance of the deaths of the two boys. The father of the two boys was present before the court. The court said that his interests will be addressed by the Amicus curiae.

The court clarified that it is not expanding the scope of the present PIL and this issue will be addressed in separate petitions or PILs. “There will be distinct issues here and we are concerned only with the first of these, namely the matter of liability for an accidental death. We are not concerned with matters regarding the removal of shanties for unauthorized constructions.

The court also directed BMC to file another affidavit clarifying whether there are any Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to determine liability and compensation whenever BMC takes up any work that involves digging up, excavation or creating a potentially dangerous situation in a place accessible to the public.

“…widely divergent legal consequences would follow depending on whether there is or is not in place a proper protocol or set of instructions or SOP”, the court said.

The court directed BMC is to file the first affidavit regarding the removal of the shanties by April 19, 2024, and posted the matter for further direction on April 23, 2024.

Case no. – Suo Motu Public Interest Litigation No. 2 of 2024

Case Title – High Court in its own Motion v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.