It also termed as "unpalatable" the failure of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to demolish the unauthorised structure and asked the petitioner to amend his PIL to include a plea for an inquiry against the officials of the planning body.
A division bench of Justices B R Gavai and M S Karnik was hearing the public interest litigation filed by activist Pravin Wategaonkar who alleged that Patil, the minister of state for home, had stayed the demolition of illegal portions of a food court in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) here.
The court said, "Prima facie everything appears to be fishy. The minister (Patil), despite being apprised of all the facts in the present case, let it (the structure) stand and adjourned hearing into the matter (seeking regularisation of the structure) for a month.
"Even after that one month, the unauthorised structure continued to stand for over three months," the HC observed.
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The PIL alleged that the said eatery was managed by the kin of a bureaucrat currently serving in the Maharashtra government and, thus, Patil misused powers and stayed its demolition.
Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbakoni assured the court that the minister would file the affidavit on the next date of hearing.
The court today also raised queries as to how MMRDA had not taken any steps to demolish the structure immediately.
"In August 2016, the owner of the eatery gave an undertaking that he would himself remove the unauthorised structure. But he did not do so. We want to know what prevented the MMRDA from demolishing the structure? The structure was finally demolished in December 2016," Justice Gavai said.
As per the plea, the MMRDA had leased the space in BKC to a company, 'Spice and Grains', for a food court. The development authority, however, found that the company had carried out unauthorised construction in the area and in May last year, it issued a demolition notice to it.
Though the company agreed to carry out the demolition work on its own at that time, in August 2016 it approached Patil requesting that the demolition order be stayed and the minister granted the stay immediately, the PIL claimed.