Bombay HC relief for Colaba special school against eviction order
In a relief to a Colaba-based school for special children, the Bombay high court has directed the army estate officer to consider an eviction order issued by him on November 20 to the institute. The order had asked the school to vacate the premise on the grounds that the land belonged to the Indian Army.
A division bench of justice Nitin Jamdar and justice Milind Jadhav, while hearing the petition filed by Able Disabled All People Together, was informed by advocate Sunip Sen and Shrubo Dey that the estate officer had issued a show-cause notice on July 20 and an eviction order, passed under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, was sent four months later. The order asked the school to vacate the premise within 15 days.
The petition has stated that the school was a tenant of the adjoining Afghan Church since 1972 and could thus not be called a ‘public premise.’ Therefore, the estate officer was not competent to pass such an eviction order, said the petitioner, further stating that the special school provided counselling, inclusive education, skills training to more than 3,000 special children and 10,000 families cutting across economic backgrounds, and it had been paying rent to the Bombay Diocesan Trust, which has been looking after Afghan Church since the early 1970s.
Bombay HC relief for Colaba special school against eviction order
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