Campa Cola demolition: Bombay High Court adjourns hearing till June 20

Mumbai, June 19: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday adjourned hearing on the issue of granting "Deemed Conveyance" of land of Campa Cola buildings.

The next hearing is on Friday, when the deadline for residents to vacate illegal flats ends.

Petitions filed by the Mumbai municipality and Pure Drinks Pvt. Ltd. have challenged the order of the Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Housing Societies granting ‘Deemed Conveyance' of land and buildings in favour of six housing societies in the upscale Campa Cola compound at Worli here.

While the municipality said it was the owner of the land on which these buildings stood, Pure Drinks said it had obtained the plot for 99 years on lease and licence basis from the civic body. Pure Drinks had used the land for manufacturing cool drinks under the brand name "Campa Cola."

Demolition of the unauthorised buildings will follow after the residents vacate the society. The SC ended the long drawn battle between the Campa Cola compound residents and the BMC over the demolition notice issues almost two decades ago by upholding the demolition of all 96 flats in the illegally constructed floors.

The residents had claimed they were innocent victims of the process and the complicity between the BMC officials and the developers. The SC in its judgment held that the residents cannot be deemed to have been so innocent. The BMC has plans to start the process of demolition. It had already prepared a report of all the steps it had taken earlier which it said the residents had successfully thwarted so far.

The builders were originally allowed to build up to five floors but what came up included two towers of 17 and 20 floors each and three buildings of six floors each and two of seven floors.

OneIndia News