India, Feb. 13 -- The Bombay High Court on Thursday rapped the civic authorities for their failure to remove encroachments on a busy Powai road, saying the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is "surrendering Mumbai to encroachers".

The court also described the BMC's attempts to clear encroachments as the "Tom and Jerry show", noting the civic body's argument that encroachers removed from one place quickly reappear elsewhere.

"So anyone can come and build hutments anywhere? If you can't do anything, you tell us you don't have the will, desire, means and courage to remove encroachment on the roads, so Mumbai can be surrendered to encroachers," said a division bench of Justices Ravindra V Ghuge and Abhay J Mantri.

The court was hear...