The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court that several of its squads tasked with checking air pollution violations have been requisitioned for election duty, drawing sharp criticism from the court over what it called a lack of preventive enforcement.
BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, who was personally present before a bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam A Ankhad, informed the court that over the past 11 months the civic body had issued show-cause notices to 8,693 construction sites for flagrant violations of air pollution control guidelines. These included 1,029 civic projects.
He said “stop work” notices were issued for 3,497 projects till November this year, comprising 2,585 private constructions, 153 municipal works and 759 projects undertaken by other development authorities. Of these, 1,518 stop-work notices were later revoked after compliance with pollution control norms.
The bench sought details on inspections of 36 construction sites earlier flagged by the court-appointed high-level committee. Gagrani said all 36 sites had been inspected, show-cause notices were issued for each, and nine sites – mostly residential projects under construction – were served stop-work notices.
The court then questioned the functioning of the BMC’s 94 inspection squads, asking how many construction sites they had checked in the last 24 hours. Advocate S U Kamdar, appearing for the BMC, said only 39 sites were inspected, prompting the bench to express strong displeasure.
The judges questioned why the corporation maintained 94 squads if they could not be deployed effectively, remarking that senior officers appeared to have “turned a blind eye” to violations. The bench said enforcement should be preventive rather than remedial, adding that the civic body lacked a proper system to stop violations before they occurred.
In response, Kamdar said BMC staff had been requisitioned for the upcoming municipal elections. The bench countered that if election duty was affecting critical enforcement, the corporation should have approached the Election Commission, stressing that the court was already seized of the air quality issue.
Senior advocates appearing in the matter also criticised the diversion of manpower. Advocate Janak Dwarkadas, representing a petitioner, said the right to life could not be subordinated to election duty. Amicus curiae Darius Khambata said public health concerns must take priority during a health crisis.
The BMC elections are scheduled for January 15.
Directing stricter enforcement, the bench ordered the BMC commissioner to ensure that each squad inspects a minimum of three construction sites daily. It said inspection locations should be assigned through last-minute selection to prevent information leaks and ensure surprise checks. The court also directed that squad vehicles be GPS-enabled and inspection staff use body cameras, without carrying personal mobile phones, to enable monitoring of their work.
The court will continue hearing the air quality matter on January 20.
– Ends
Published By:
Priyanka Kumari
Published On:
Dec 25, 2025
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