The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea by occupants of Vikas Building in South Mumbai’s Fort area, which is over 129 years old and houses iconic Parsi eatery Jimmy Boy, and upheld the BMC’s action seeking immediate vacation of the “dilapidated and ruinous” premises.The court imposed Rs 5 lakh cost on petitioners to be paid to Cancer ward of civic-run KEM Hospital for suppression of facts.The petition by Vikas Cooperative Society Ltd of occupiers of the “dangerous” building challenged had challenged “arbitrary and illegal” BMC notices from June 20 and 21 under sections 353B and 354 of Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act, for vacating and demolishing a building by declaring it as C-1 (dilapidated and unsafe) category structure.The plea also challenged separate notices issued last month by MRA Marg Police, BEST, and BMC’s water department restricting access, cutting electricity and water supply to the premises, respectively.The bench said that while it was their duty to maintain the building, several “prominent commercial establishments” and a restaurant (Jimmy Boy) with large business turnover that occupy the building, “have done nothing, other than exploiting the building and recklessly using the same, leaving it to be deteriorated”.After the petitioner society sought time from its members to remove their belongings, the BMC opposed the entry into the building in “dangerous condition”. The HC clarified that entry would be at the “own risk” of petitioner society’s members subject to civic body’s decision and without holding BMC, state authorities or state authorities liable in case of collapse.The HC added that the petitioner will be liable for any harm cause to third partiesA bench of Justices Girish S Kulkarni and Arif S Doctor noted that the case pertained to a 129-year-old ground-plus-four-storeyed “dangerous building” situated at a short distance from the HC building.Story continues below this adThe building housed 37 units including 11 law firms or offices, Jimmy Boy restaurant on ground floor and other commercial establishments. The BMC’s Disaster Control Cell had vacated the building on June 21 citing “urgent situation”.“Any untoward incident of a collapse of the building would not only be a disaster qua the occupants of the building, but also to the adjoining premises qua the public at large in the busy Fort area,” the bench noted.It added that the society was “too late in time to contend that the petitioner would make an attempt to repair the building”.The society, through senior advocate Aniruddh Joshi, termed the notices and classification into C-1 category to be arbitrary and illegal despite it having conducted structural audits from time to time. Advocate K H Mastakar for BMC justified the notices issued considering “grave condition” of the said building.Story continues below this adJustice Doctor for the bench observed that the petitioner society failed to refer to the structural stability report obtained by it in May, 2024 that certified the said building as “very old, dilapidated and required to be vacated immediately”. The report showed that the building was of C-1 category and this amounts to material suppression, the HC noted.Referring to past HC and Supreme Court judgments, the bench noted that it was “paramount” to consider safety of occupiers, those from adjoining buildings, passers-by, as they have the “right not to get affected by the building collapse”.