Bombay HC Initiates Contempt Case Against SRA CEO Over Sion-Koliwada Rehab Flats

The Bombay High Court has initiated contempt proceedings against the Chief Executive Officer of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) and two other officers for giving false assurances regarding a special grievance redressal cell for rehabilitation projects in Sion-Koliwada.

A division bench comprising Justices Girish Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale initiated the action on Tuesday after observing that the authority repeatedly misled the court about addressing the grievances of project beneficiaries.

The judges observed that what shocked the conscience of the court was that it was persistently misled to believe that the grievances of the applicants would be redressed. The bench noted that such statements and assurances were made with full knowledge that they were false, amounting to an intentional and brazen disobedience of court orders.

Finding that there was a complete derailment of justice, the High Court criticised the SRA for breaching its directives with impunity across four separate hearings.

The matter stems from an order passed on December 23, when the High Court disposed of several petitions concerning delayed possession of permanent alternative accommodation. At that time, the court directed the affected petitioners to approach three special cells constituted by the SRA to resolve their complaints in a time-bound manner.

However, the special cell designated for the city remained non-functional. Following this, five individuals across two petitions approached the High Court on March 9 seeking the restoration of their original petitions.

During the proceedings, advocate Shakil Ahmed, representing the applicants, informed the court that one of the petitioners has been living in a transit camp for nearly 20 years awaiting permanent accommodation.