MUMBAI, July 29 -- The Bombay high court has directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to shut down the Red Heart English School, a primary school in the M-East ward which was operating without necessary approvals, and demolish the school building within 10 days. The division bench of justices GS Kulkarni and Arif Doctor was hearing a writ petition filed by Abrahum Education Society, which runs the school in Shivaji Nagar. The society had challenged a demolition notice issued by the BMC on June 10, 2025. The school, running since 2016-17 with over 400 students on its rolls, neither had any planning permission for the building from which it was functioning, nor any permission from the education department to establish the institution. Its proposal seeking permission to establish and run the school was under consideration, the society said its petition. On July 21, the court passed a detailed order, directing the society to immediately seal the school and place on record an affidavit about its closure. "There cannot be a more shocking state of affairs. An unauthorised school and that too in such illegal premises, cannot be countenanced," the court said. In response, the state government and the BMC filed an affidavit each the same day. In the state government's affidavit, Sunil Rajaram Sawant, assistant director of the education department, claimed that several notices for closure were issued to the school between February 1, 2019 and April 11, 2023. As the school failed to comply with the notices, concerned authorities initiated demolition of the building on February 13 this year but had to call it off over law and order concerns. The BMC - in its affidavit filed via Ujwal Rajani Yadeorao Ingole, assistant commissioner of the M-East ward - elaborated on the challenges and hurdles faced by the principal officers who had initiated demolition of the illegal structure. The building was partially demolished on February 13, 2025 before the police issued an advisory to maintain public order. On May 6, the BMC's enforcement team visited the premises, but found the school building locked. BMC officials visited the premises again on June 11, when a large gathering of residents blocked access to the school. A day later, on July 12, officials found the school was still operational and students were present on campus while the police advised them to defer the action by a day when the school would be closed, the BMC said in its petition. On July 22, Abdulla Mohammed Siddique Khan, secretary of the Abrahum Education Society, placed another affidavit on record, stating the school had been closed down at 5pm that day. After considering the respective affidavits, the division bench on July 24 held that the BMC needed to take further action against the school as mandated by the law, and as per the notice issued to the society on February 10, 2025. The court directed the authorities to remove the illegal structure within 10 days and intimate it regarding completion of the demolition. The society said it would co-operate with authorities to demolish the existing structure at its own cost....