Kolkata, June 9 -- The Calcutta High Court has refused to interfere with a Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) demolition programme relating to an alleged illegal construction at Narkeldanga, holding that a belated appeal filed by the petitioner had no legal standing.

Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury dismissed a writ petition filed by Yesmin Begum, who had challenged steps taken by the municipal authorities to implement a demolition order through a programme scheduled on June 4.

The petitioner contended that she is the daughter of the person responsible for carrying out the alleged illegal construction and argued that the civic authorities were proceeding with the demolition despite an appeal filed by her before the Building Tribunal. She sought a stay on the demolition until disposal of the appeal.

Appearing for KMC, counsel submitted that the demolition order had earlier been challenged by the developer before the Building Tribunal. According to the civic body, the petitioner's mother was a party to those proceedings and the petitioner was aware of them.

KMC argued that the petitioner did not challenge the demolition order within the prescribed period and filed an appeal only after the developer's appeal was dismissed for default.

After hearing the parties, the court observed that while the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act provides a statutory remedy against a demolition order, the petitioner and her mother had not preferred an appeal when the developer's appeal was pending. The court noted that the petitioner had "waited and watched" the proceedings and approached the tribunal only after dismissal of the developer's appeal.

The court further observed that the law prescribes a 30-day period for filing an appeal against a demolition order and that the statutory period had long expired. It also noted that there was nothing on record to show that the delay in filing the appeal had been condoned.

Holding that the appeal was barred by limitation and that "there is no appeal in the eye of law at this stage", the court found no ground to interfere with the demolition process.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.