India, July 6 -- The Bombay high court last week directed the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) to proceed with the planned demolition of an illegal building in Kalyan. The KDMC had declared the building unauthorised in August 2019 and planned to demolish it, but the delay prompted the land owner, Baban Kene, to approach court to speed up the process. Kene also sought a penalty against the developer who built the illegal structure and the civic officials who failed to act against it.

A division bench of justices GS Kulkarni and Arif Doctor noted that the building, a ground-plus-six-storey structure in Ayare village near Kalyan, had been constructed without any planning permissions. KDMC officials admitted that the construction...