India, May 26 -- The Bombay High Court has allowed 32 families to continue living in dangerously dilapidated buildings in a Sion housing society for eight more weeks "at their own risk", after the residents sought more time to vacate their homes.

A vacation bench of justice Gautam Ankhad and justice Sandesh Patil on May 22 ordered the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to restore the buildings' water supply and not take any coercive steps against the occupants for eight weeks.

The court said it was granting an extension solely on humanitarian grounds, as most of the petitioners were senior citizens. This was after the petitioners assured the court that they would occupy the dilapidated buildings, some of which are 60 years old, du...