Campa Cola compound case: Residents remain adamant, refuse to move out

The Campa Cola housing colony residents in Mumbai have refused to move out of the compund. Only 10 out of 96 unauthorised in the Campa Cola society have been vacated till now. The aggressive social media campaign also seems to have yielded no result. The Supreme Court had set November 11 deadline to vacate the flats. Many families living in the compound are still hoping that Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan will step in and save their homes by passing an ordinance that would regularize their flats. 

However, so far the Chief Minister has shown no signs of relenting and accepting the demands made by the residents of Campa Cola. Sources suggest that the Chief Minister did not want to go against the legal opinion of the advocate general. Even as the residents are hoping that their would be some last minute changes, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is likely to begin the demolition process on Tuesday. The civic body is likely to begin by first cutting the power and water supply to the illegal flats and destroying the internal structure internally. The entire demolition of the unathorised structures may take few months as the civic body's standing committee has rejected the Rs 3 crore demotion tenders. 

The Supreme Court had in October ordered the residents of over 90 illegal flats to vacate their houses by November 11. On October 1, the Supreme Court had ordered the residents of over 90 illegal flats to vacate their houses by November 11. The BMC had issued eviction notices to residents of the illegal floors under Section 488 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act last week warning them not to obstruct the civic staff when they initiate demolition. The residents of the Campa Cola compound have had a long legal fight since 2005 when they first went to court for water connection and regularization and the court ordered the then municipal commissioner to take time-bound action on the case. 

The municipal commissioner instead of taking an action against the builders served demolition notices to about 100 flats above the fifth floor. The builders of the society which were PSB construction, Yusuf Patel and BK Gupta were granted permission to construct the residential towers not more than five floors. They, however, went ahead and flouted the norms by constructing about 35 illegal floors across the Campa Cola compound. The demolition notices served were challenged in the civil court were granted a stay. The residents, however, lost the case in the High Court in 2011 and subsequently in the Supreme Court in February 2013 when it refused to regularise the structure. 

The BMC then issued demolition notice on the April 27 asking the occupants of the illegal flats to vacate within 48 hrs. However, the Supreme Court intervention ensured that the residents got a five month window to vacate their houses.

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