Ganesh Naik's kin ordered to raze illegal Glass House

Thane guardian minister Ganesh Naik’s nephew Santosh Tandel will have to pull down the illegal Glass House constructed on a 301-square-metre plot belonging to Cidco in Navi Mumbai.The Bombay high court gave this order saying that it was a brazen violation of law and that the law was the same for everyone, including minsters.A division bench of justice DY Chandrachud and justice S Gupte gave Tandel two weeks’ time to raze the ground-plus-one structure, failing which, Cidco has been directed to demolish the structure.The high court has also directed the commissioner of police, Navi Mumbai, to provide assistance, if asked, for demolishing the structure.“The construction of structure is completely illegal and without any authority of law. It defies any explanation as to how the planning authority stood by, waited and watched as an illegal structure was built up without any authority of law,” observed the HC. The court also rapped the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation for allowing the illegal construction to come up. “The civic body has failed in discharging its obligations. The law is the same for everyone. So what if the person involved is a minister and his relative,” said the judges.The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by RTI activist Sandeep Thakur, alleging that the minister, his son Sandeep Naik and his nephew Santosh Tandel had usurped the land measuring over 1.45 lakh square metres.Tandel had admitted in an affidavit that the Glass House, built after 2005, belonged to him and not to his uncle. The Glass House was built on the land which has been declared as a No- Development Zone by Cidco. When Tandel’s advocate sought six weeks’ time to remove the structure, Justice Chandrachud refused saying: “We will give six months to a slum dweller to shift but not to you. You have violated the law.”The court also questioned if Tandel was the owner of the structure or it was owned by Naik. “If the structure does not belong to the minister, then why did he go there 72 times between October and December 2011?” The query was raised after an RTI reply was shown which said the police provided escort to the NCP minister at the Glass House.The high court has also asked the authorities to carry out the demolition of all the unauthorised structures in the plots belonging to MIDC. The high court has asked the Cidco, MIDC and NMMC to submit compliance reports by August 8.Minister must quit: MoreShiv Sena corporator Vitthal More, who parted ways with Ganesh Naik over alleged corruption, demanded Naik’s resignation from the state cabinet. “The high court order has proved that Naik promotes and shields unauthorised and illegal work, has scant regard for the law and indulges in corruption. He should respect the court order and immediately resign from his post as minister in the state cabinet,” More said.