For now, Juhu police station is controlling crime out of a temporary premises in JVPD. A plot measuring 3,274 sq yards was allotted for the construction of a police complex within the scheme 24 years ago, and the Juhu police station was to shift into this complex. But the JVPD Association, representing 14 co-operative societies, has opposed the complex, comprising a police station and residential quarters for constables tooth and nail. And when construction of sorts finally started in February this year, the association obtained a status quo order from the Bombay High Court on March 16. The matter will be heard on Monday.

On July 29, 1975, the JVPD Association gave the state government twoplots of land - U6 and U7 CTS no 319 and 320 - hugging Kalaniketan on V K Road to build the police complex. Subsequently, in the revised Development Plan of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for 1981-2001, the plot was notified as reserved for a police station, and the Urban Development (UD) department issued a Government Resolution (GR) to this effect.

But the police failed to honour their end of the deal: they did not pay the costs of the land at that time - Rs 1.58 lakh - to the JVPD Association till 1991. Finally, this sum was pulled out of the Chief Minister's Relief Fund in 1991 and a cheque given to the JVPD association. But the cheque was returned as Raj Dwirek, former president of the JVPD Association at the time, told Express Newsline. ``The cheque had come from the Chief Minister Relief fund, which is a charitable organisation. We decided in a meeting and that we could not accept the money as it did not come from the police department,'' he said.

The next year, the JVPD obtained astatus quo order from the High Court on construction on the plot. The police challenged the stay and got it vacated in April 1997. In September 1996, the association met senior police officials and suggested a settlement: the police should pay Rs 1.58 lakh plus five per cent interest per year on that amount since the year it was due; the JVPD association should fund construction of the police station on the plot in a year's time; and residential quarters for IPS officers should be built instead of quarters for constables.

But this deal fell through, and between 1997 and 1998, the association issued several eviction notices to the Juhu police station, which has been lodged in one part of the ground floor of Vishnu Prasad Desai Bhuvan, which also houses the association's office.

An end to the impasse seemed in sight when the state government's home department allocated Rs 46.83 lakh towards construction of the station, and of this, Rs 10 lakh was immediately released. But with the latest status quo orderfrom the high court, work on the station has come to a halt.

This deadlock has greatly irked police personnel working at Juhu police station, who say that over 200 staff members, including 150 constables, are cooped there. Senior Inspector R M Sarnaik informed how concrete slabs fell twice late last year and injured eight persons - four constables and four complainants. And every monsoon, the station gets flooded and the walls leak, added Constable Mills Mulla. Temporary tin sheds serve as the store and in-charge rooms, where, among other things, confiscated goods are stored. There are no special facilities for the women staff, and only recently was a makeshift room built for them.

JVPD president Narayan Walia claimed that he knew little of what was going on. He, however, admitted that the JVPD was trying to stop the police from carrying on constructing on the plot.

Former association president Dwirek pointed out that the association is making a mistake by not allowing a police complex to come up. If aplot is reserved for a police station and police residential premises under DP, it cannot be used for any other purposes, he pointed out.

Senior police officials also claim that it is the proposal to build residential quarters for the humble constables that's nagging the association the most. Rakesh Maria, Additional Commissioner of Police, north-west region, under which Juhu comes, said, ``The reserved plot is in a strategic location for us to have a police station. At present, it is almost exactly on the border of the Santa Cruz police jurisdiction. Moreover the size of the present police station is inadequate.''

He added, ``We could be able to cater to the policing needs of the local populace much better and be more effective in the new place. That is where property related and other crimes take place, and having a staff nearby would ensure more efficiency.'' Juhu police station caters to a population of three lakh.