Kolkata HC pulls up KMC for demolition drive without prior notice

KOLKATA: Following Calcutta High Court posers to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the LMNOQ Sky Bar at Park Street on Monday, the civic body told HC that it would not act on its demolition order against the 12th floor Celica Park restaurant till Thursday when the court would be hearing the case again.
Reacting to this, mayor Firhad Hakim said KMC would comply with HC directives but also pointed out that it was not a stay order. A separate plea filed by restaurants against the civic body’s closure notices would be heard on Tuesday.

Counsel for the bar owners, Sabyasachi Chowdhury, told HC that they had received a notice under Section 401 of KMC Act — a stop-work notice — in July 2024 and also on Saturday. There was no demolition notice, he stated, and that the eatery should get 15 days of notice to remove any illegal structure. “There was no requirement to come with police and break my furniture and glass fittings,” the counsel said. Even while holding that the construction of the bar was illegal since it had applied for regularisation of sheds built on the roof, Justice Gaurang Kanth told KMC that serving a notice to an eatery under Section 401 did not allow its demolition.
While KMC admitted that no demolition notice had been served, the HC told the civic body: “You know very well that you cannot demolish a structure under section 401. You hold your hands and make a statement that you are not going to demolish further,” Justice Kanth told the civic body. On the judge’s question as to what legal provisions allowed KMC do demolitions without prior notices, KMC counsel Saptangsu Basu replied that section 400 (8) of the KMC Act allows the Mayor-in-Council to order immediate demolition of a building or work if it is in contravention of the Act and if the Mayor-in-Council believed immediate action was necessary.
Even after the KMC assurance, restaurant’s councel VVV Sastry objected, saying the civic body’s counsel had made a verbal promise and no formal order had been passed.
Addressing the restaurant, the judge said: “I want to understand... when you are running a rooftop restaurant, you have a fire licence. Let’s assume you have it for the rooftop as well. For another licence, you gave a blueprint, but do you show in the blueprint that you are serving alcohol in the open area? You know that this was an illegal structure. You had asked for regularisation (for putting up the shed).”
The civic body, after it was given a list of 83 rooftop restaurants for scrutiny by Kolkata Police, had started a drive on Saturday and demolished a portion of LMNOQ. The bar moved HC and mentioned it before justice Kanth on Monday.
Mayor Firhad Hakim, meanwhile, said: “The judge has asked KMC to produce valid documents and submit the same to the court. I was present at LMNOQ. The owners were asked to clear passage for entry of a hydraulic ladder. As they chose to ignore the order, we had to carry out certain demolitions to make the area vacant.”
The owner’s counsel submitted in court that the restaurant was awaiting regularisation of the use of sheds following the July 2024 notice. The sheds, he claimed, were temporary structures, and could be easily dismantled. He also claimed that the bar had a fire licence valid till Aug.
Appearing for KMC, Saptangsu Basu submitted that some portion has been demolished.