However, since the illegality of the initial construction evidently did not deter them in the first place, the owners have now bulldozed their way past the Metropolitain Regional Town Planning Act (MRTP), which deems such reconstruction as illegal. Sections 52 and 53 of the act not only term the reconstruction of structures which have already been demolished as illegal, it also allows for the arrest of the persons responsible.

Moreover, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), which was has been restrained by the State Government from razing the 100-odd bungalows, can demolish the reconstructed portions if it so wishes, in accordance with a Bombay High Court judgement delivered by Justice M F Saldanha in 1993. The judgement empowers civic authorities to demolish such reconstructedportions if eviction notices have been served on the structures in the first place.Prior to the demolition, the TMC had served eviction notices under Sections 268 and 260 of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act (BPMC Act), 1949. However, the civic authorities, under the aegis of Municipal Commissioner T S Chandrashekhar, had razed just four structures on December 3 before Chief Minister Manohar Joshi slapped a stay on the demolition. These belong to Madan Mantri, chairperson of the TMC's Transport Committee; Jitendra Awhad, former state Youth Congress president; D K Mali, a builder; and Ramesh Vaithi, a Shiv Sena corporator.

While Mantri's bungalow was completely razed, he has now built a compound wall around the property. In Mali's case, the civic authorities had demolished about 25 per cent of his bungalow. However, levelling work is under way on his property.

Mantri, however, was nonchalant about the compound wall, the illegality of the activity notwithstanding. ``If all the structures inYeoor are unauthorised, why should I only suffer? Anyway, I have only built a compound wall so that intruders do not enter the place,'' he told The Indian Express. Mali, for his part, has given an `undertaking' that ``no construction of any sort'' will be carried out after the ground is levelled. Asked whether the levelling work was a prelude to rebuilding his prized bungalow, he merely reiterated his comment. Chandrashekar himself declined comment.

Another recourse against the State Government's stay order is the legal option. If the Chief Minister refuses to vacate the stay (and Minister of State for Urban Development Ravindra Mane stated last week during the ongoing Winter session of the State Assembly that the Government would take two months to work out an action plan on the Yeoor demolitions), a public interest litigation can be filed in the Bombay High Court against the Government's action.

Whether the law will prevail or its violators will pressure the authorities to protect theirfortresses at Yeoor would have been a moot point had the history of the bungalows not weighed so heavily in favour of the persons whose might has protected these structures for more than a decade.