July 14: Hot debate spilled over the issue of building a urinal around the Parsi Well (Churchgate) today in the Bombay High Court, even as the Parsi Panchayat and two other Parsi individuals pleaded for revocation of the permission given to build urinal in the precinct.The division bench of Chief Justice M B Shah and Ranjana Desai have posted the petition for July 23. No interim relief has been granted.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the state government have been asked to file an affidavit by that time. Apart from the Panchayat, other petitioners were Cyrus Jimmy Pooniwala and N Karbhari. They were represented by J Dwarkadas, Behram Shroff, Shyaam Dewan, B H Antia and H N Vakil. The Rotary Club, which constructed the urinal, was represented by Mahendra Ghelani.The petitioners argue that the toilet will contaminate the well water. Besides, it also hurts the sentiments of the Parsi community.

They further maintain that Rotary Club of Bombay Sunrise has violated the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act. As per the act, the municipal corporation cannot allow any commercial construction on a heritage precinct as declared by the Development Control (DC) rules. These DC rules were declared in June 1996 and drafted as early as in 1991, they claim.

Therefore, the construction of the toilet since June 1996, should not have been allowed.The petitioners have invoked the Article 14, 21 and 226 of the Constitution praying for court's intervention.The Club however maintains that all the Parsis have not objected to the urinal. "The project is supported by many right-thinking Parsis," they claim. Besides, an old urinal already existed in the premises. The new one, costing Rs 23 lakh, has all modern amenities and drainage system, with no scope for seepage and percolation of toilet water.The BMC had met leaders of the Parsi community in May 1997 to explain the utility of the new toilet. Therefore, the toilet should be made operational as soon as possible, the Club counsel argued.The BMC called upon the club to reconstruct the dilapidated urinal by providing amenities like health centre, drinking water facility and toilet block in November 1994. The club claims that it had consulted the Heritage Committee and was willing to work out the modifications suggested in the toilet block.

However, the committee "found our plans perfect and after detailed examination, it cleared the project".

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.