Mumbai: After issuing show-cause notices to the assistant municipal commissioner of R-Central ward and the law officer over administrative lapses in the Borivli East demolition case that had reached Supreme Court, BMC on Friday handed over additional charge of its law department to joint law officer Sukhshri Modle.Komal Punjabi was heading the law department when SC, in its scathing criticism of BMC on Tuesday, had accused it of being “hand in glove” with squatters and directed that municipal commissioner Ashwini Bhide’s and her personal staff’s Nov salaries be withheld for not clearing encroachments from the plot reserved for a BEST bus depot despite multiple orders. SC withdrew the directive on Wednesday, hours after BMC razed all 27 encroaching structures.SC had on Aug 13, 2025, directed removal of the encroachments and operationalisation of the bus depot in three months. It reiterated the directives on Nov 13, 2025, and gave BMC three more months till July 28, 2026. A senior BMC official said, “The civic administration and the elected body were upset with Punjabi over handling of the case. Further, the administration felt it was not kept abreast about the case as it should have been.”According to a BMC order issued by General Administration Department (GAD) on Nov 6, the work of the law department handled by Punjabi will now be looked after by Modle as an additional charge until further orders.Meanwhile, former BJP MP Gopal Shetty on Friday again demanded that all the affected occupants be rehabilitated, reiterating that the structures were protected and their occupants had documentary evidence of having been in the area before 1995. The demand was raised at the second meeting convened at BMC headquarters to discuss the contentious demolition.Developer Anir Shah, who was also present at the meeting, indicated that he was willing to rehabilitate the occupants within the plot earmarked for his redevelopment project, but made it conditional on being granted adequate FSI for the project and the proposal being in accordance with SC’s order.Shetty said, “The R-Central ward officer has given us in writing that the eligibility of the now-demolished structures will be revisited and accordingly, based on the documents provided, it would be decided. We will continue to fight for justice for residents of these affected structures.”
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