Published On : Thu, Feb 8th, 2018

HC orders State to decide change of user within 2 months

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Nagpur: Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday ordered the State government to decide within two months on change of users of Sonegaon lake. It also directed the State Urban Development Secretary to grant hearing to all the parties concerned, including the petitioners Prashant Pawar and Toran Harikumar Naidu before arriving at a conclusion. Other parties included lake owners Dr Rekharani Bhiwapurkar and Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC).

The court’s directives came while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) (No 71/2015) on civic body splurging crores on beautification and maintenance of the historic lake, despite it being a private property. The petitioners objected to NMC’s move to provide compensation to the owners — Dr Rekharani Bhiwapurkar and late Dr Sudha Sutaria who was other owner — based on TDR. In October last year, the NMC’s general body passed a resolution for changing lake’s reservation, as TDR can’t be granted on water body.

During last hearing, the court had asked municipal corporation to decide the mode of compensation to be granted to the owners of water body.

The petitioners through counsel Avdhesh Kesari appealed for acquisition and conservation of the historic lake citing support from nearby residents of Sonegaon and Sahakar Nagar.