Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation buildings dept will conduct an on-the-spot survey of Shantiniketan, the building on Harish Mukherjee Road that is owned or co-owned by Abhishek Banerjee, his family or company.The decision was taken after a hearing on the property on Monday. The hearing was conducted at the KMC borough IX office. Lawyer Indrajit Bhattacharjee appeared for the hearing on behalf of Abhishek’s father, Amit Banerjee. All eyes have been on Shantiniketan, the building located opposite the 23 Pally Durga temple on Harish Mukherjee Road, since the civic body pasted a notice on the property in May.Apart from this building, the KMC will also conduct spot inspections at some other properties linked to Abhishek on Kalighat Road and adjacent areas. According to a KMC source, the hearings on these properties have already been conducted as directed by Calcutta High Court.Bhattacharjee said he submitted papers relating to Shantiniketan to the hearing authority that clearly showed that the KMC buildings dept responded to an appeal by the owners and gave its verdict in favour of a regularisation of an additional floor that was constructed after the construction of the building as per a sanctioned plan.“We submitted papers during the hearing that proved that the civic authority cleared a regularisation appeal more than 10 years ago. Based on the regularisation, a completion certificate was issued in Feb 2015. So, the question of unauthorised construction doesn’t arise,” said Bhattacharjee.However, a KMC buildings department senior official said the property would still be under scanner as regularisation of an entire floor can be done under special circumstances. “We need to see what prompted the KMC hearing officer to grant a regularisation nod for an entire floor that was built deviating from the building rules,” said the civic official.The KMC buildings dept pasted a notice on Shantiniketan on Harish Mukherjee Road on May 18 for alleged unauthorised construction. A KMC buildings dept official said that this property was among the 17 properties “owned or co-owned by Abhishek Banerjee, his company and family” that are under the scrutiny of the civic body.Officials said notices under Section 400(1) of the KMC Act, 1980 — issued for deviations from the sanctioned plan — have been pasted on all 17 addresses. KMC’s assessment dept initially prepared a list of 42 properties allegedly owned or co-owned by Banerjee, which was later pruned to 17. Banerjee vowed to fight back. Abhishek sought additional time from KMC to reply to the notices. But his family later decided to move court against civic action.“We go by the provisions of the KMC building rules while deciding the fate of any building that deviates from the sanctioned building plan. A demolition order is given depending on the degree of such deviation,” said a KMC official.At a meeting of TMC MLAs at Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat home on May 20, Abhishek said: “Let them do whatever they want. Raze my home, send notice. I won’t bow down. Come what may, my fight continues against BJP.”Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari categorically said that the properties of Abhishek were under scanner. He said that the govt will put the “corrupt ones” behind bars.
