NAVI MUMBAI, July 10 -- Weeks after observing that 4,946 illegal buildings could not have sprung up without the "tacit approval" of civic officials, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday made it clear that accountability cannot stop at issuing show-cause notices. The court directed the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) to specify the disciplinary action it proposes to take against nearly 400 serving and former civic officials linked to the unauthorised constructions. The observations came during the hearing of a contempt petition filed by activist Kishor Sunder Shetty before a division bench of justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata. Senior advocate Anil Anturkar, appearing for the NMMC, informed the court that municipal commissioner Kailas Shinde had initiated the civic body's first major internal accountability exercise. He referred to Shinde's 600-page affidavit dated July 6, which identifies nearly 400 serving and former officers and employees whose tenures coincided with the construction of the unauthorised buildings and includes copies of the show-cause notices issued to them. While taking note of the exercise, the bench questioned what would follow after the notices. Stressing that responsibility had to be fixed, the judges remarked, "Navi Mumbai is a planned city, not a slum area," and observed that the mushrooming of nearly 5,000 illegal buildings could have been prevented had officials acted when the structures were at the plinth stage instead of waiting until they were fully constructed. Anturkar, however, submitted that initiating action against several officials had become difficult because many had retired, been transferred or were serving on deputation with the state government. Taking note of the submission, the bench directed the Maharashtra government to cooperate with the NMMC in proceeding against such officials. The hearing stemmed from the High Court's June 16 order, in which it had sharply criticised the NMMC for "cleverly" avoiding the identification of officers responsible for the 4,946 buildings allegedly constructed without commencement and occupation certificates. The court had then observed that such large-scale illegal construction could not have taken place without the "tacit approval" of civic officials and directed the corporation to identify the officers concerned and spell out the action proposed against them. The court also granted Shetty permission to implead Cidco as a respondent, clarifying that it was being added as a necessary party and not as a contemnor, since several of the disputed structures are situated in Cidco-developed areas and its presence was necessary for proper adjudication of the case. Following the bench's queries on the proposed disciplinary action and the issue of proceeding against officials no longer under the NMMC's administrative control, Anturkar and Additional Government Pleader OA Chandurkar sought time to obtain instructions from the corporation and the state government, respectively. The matter has been adjourned to July 14....