Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court on Friday summoned Surat municipal commissioner and civic body’s standing committee chairman on Oct 23 to know the change in SMC’s stand in giving accommodation to those who lost their houses in the allegedly illegal demolition drive in Nasir Nagar area in May.During a hearing on a plea filed by the affected families, Justice Nikhil Kariel said, “Let us have the municipal commissioner here next time. Let us also know what his stand is. They (affected families) have been staying in a hall for so many months, so let the commissioner come here. He can sit in the high court. What is the big deal?”SMC offered houses in the JNURM scheme to the 28 affected families and asked them to pay the extra money, and the families refused to accept the houses. Justice Kariel said that SMC cannot shift its financial burden onto a central govt scheme and questioned why SMC wanted to give accommodation to the affected families in such a scheme when SMC had agreed to give accommodation on its own.“We want to know the change in stand also. What was the reason for the back-out? He (commissioner) has to take a call. He is the head of the executive wing of the corporation,” the judge said and added, “If the corporation is backing out, I will not permit them. The corporation had agreed through learned advocate general that these people would be accommodated.”Meanwhile, the families filed an affidavit and stated that in lieu of the accommodation, they are ready to accept Rs 10 lakh compensation. The court said that SMC is a rich civic body and it can pay compensation and recover it from the officers responsible for the illegal demolition.
