The Bombay High Court on Wednesday sought effective probe from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and questioned if the peons arrested for forging over 880 maps in Madh island in Malad (west) were so “powerful” and if the senior officers in city survey department and other authorities “turned blind eye” to their acts.
This came after the state lawyer informed the bench that two retired city survey officers, two peons and a few estate agents were arrested for forging over 880 maps to facilitate illegal constructions including bungalows in the area.
A bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Neela K Gokhale was hearing a plea by Vaibhav Mohan Thakur and others, residents of Erangal in the Madh Island area along the northern coastline of the city.
The petitioners, through advocate Abhinandan Vagyani, had alleged that the majority of the maps had been manipulated to get reprieve of exemptions under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms and to show the structures were constructed prior to 1964 and attempts were made to legalise them.
In October, 2024, after pulling up police for showing ‘lethargy’ in the probe, the HC had constituted SIT to probe the matter.
On Wednesday, a state government lawyer informed the bench about the progress in probe, arrests, and submitted that documents including maps are obtained from Land records and City Survey department and are forwarded to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for their Chemical Analysis (CA). The suburban district collector also sought a 30-day time to ascertain if there are any CRZ violations and to take appropriate action
“Once maps were forged, nothing could have been constructed on those lands. Whether they are within CRZ or not is not important at this stage. Whether constructions could have been undertaken on these lands is a moot question. If maps are forged, where is the question of waiting for FSL analysis?” the bench orally questioned.
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The state lawyer submitted that it has also written to BMC if any illegal constructions were there in such areas and if notices were issued to them by the civic body. The lawyer also said revenue authorities did not cooperate with the probe.
“Obviously they may have overlooked it. But then what happens? Peons have done everything and senior officers have not signed or done nothing? Was it within the duties of peons or someone else? If it involved a scam of such a magnitude you can imagine who all would be involved. Are peons so powerful that they can get maps forged? Did senior officers turn a blind eye? There has to be somebody who has the authority. You are going only against these peons and agents. Who has made a benefit out of it? Peons may be the small fries. We had reposed trust and faith in SIT,” the bench said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Shyam Ghuge, who was part of the probing team and was present in the court, told the bench that responsibility of record keeping was with peons and they would keep the said maps in their custody and were in contact with agents.
He added that the property owners would be asked to file RTI applications, after which the peons would give forged maps to the seniors and that is how the same would come on record as per their modus operandi.
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“883 maps were forged. Do you mean to say not once a senior officer realised this? One needs skill to forge maps. There must be draftsmen. What did transpire during the interrogation of agents?” the bench queried and sought “positive” steps from SIT.
It also asked if it was probed if the land survey officers were present for demarcation and if signatures on forged maps were identical.
The court asked the BMC and revenue authorities to cooperate with the probe and handover necessary documents.
Granting time to the state to collect documents and data from all authorities, the bench posted further hearing after six weeks.