'Mischievous Breach': Supreme Court Stops BMC Chief's Salary Over Failure To Clear Encroachments

The Supreme Court has frozen the November salaries of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Commissioner Ashwini Bhide and other concerned officials over the failure to clear encroachments from land reserved for a BEST bus station in Mumbai's Borivali. The three-judge bench initiated contempt proceedings against Bhide, issued a show-cause notice and rejected the BMC's request for an additional 30 days to comply with its earlier directions. The court also imposed costs of Rs 5 lakh. Chief Justice Surya Kant questioned whether civic officials were colluding with illegal occupants and described the failure to act as an "absolutely mischievous breach" of the court's directions. The dispute concerns 3,400 square metres of land that the Supreme Court had ordered the developer to hand over to the BMC.