Rise in garbage collection charges,sugarcane juice stall owners move HC

According to petitioner’s lawyers Anand Grover and Prakash Mahadik,the corporation has been increasing the charges randomly without giving any circulars or prior notices to the stall owners. The move is completely unfair as the civic body is not charging uniformly in other BMC wards,the petition said.

The petition filed by the union said,“The sugarcane juice business is seasonal and the income from it is not substantial. If the corporation does not reduce the garbage charges then they will be left with no choice but to shut down their businesses.”

The petition came up for hearing on Wednesday before Justice P B Majmudar and Justice A Sayed but the lawyers for the union informed the court that they would like to amend the petition. The lawyers said that of the 400 stall owners who initially agreed to move the court,only 105 have finally come forward.

Mahadik said,“In 2005,the BMC used to charge Rs 2,000 per month as garbage cess which was suddenly increased to Rs 3,040 in January 2010. This is almost 40 per cent increase and that too without prior notice. When the stall owners went to pay the fees as per the rates applicable in 2005,the corporation refused to accept it and in June 2010 issued a notice to the stall owners asking them to pay up the arrears as per the revised rates.”

The counsel appearing for the BMC informed the court that she was holding for another counsel and was not aware of the matter. The lawyers for the petitioners were allowed to carry out the amendment in the petition by way of depositing 50 per cent of the arrears amount with the High Court. The matter has been adjourned for two weeks.