Campa Cola flats: Why only single out the owners for punishment?

It looks like the end of the road for owners and residents of 102 flats in Campa Cola that have been declared illegal by the Supreme Court.

It is difficult to have sympathy for anyone affected by the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the desperate plea made by the Campa Cola residents association, even if the implications are that they would lose their investments made in the property and have to look for alternative places to live, and so on.

After all, the property was clearly illegal, bought in an era when corruption was supreme. So what if the property was illegal, as long as powerful people were involved in the project, in effect making the investment ‘safe’?

Times have changed and, whether in property or in coal or the Commonwealth Games or in telecom, bribing the powerful no longer guarantees protection and no longer guarantees that one can get away with a crime.

One can still find a reason to be sympathetic to the Campa Cola residents affected – the fact that only they, the owners of the illegal flats, are being singled out for punishment.

What about all the others responsible for that fact that the illegal floors not only were built, but were occupied? What about those who were involved in granting water and electricity connections? What about the corporation officials who could see the illegal floors being built and yet did nothing about it?

What about the architect who constructed the extra, illegal floors despite the knowledge that laws were being broken? What about the ministries concerned, with all the politicians and bureaucrats in subsequent governments – what happens to them?

Why do all except the owners and residents of the illegal flats get away scot-free?

Worse, what about all the obvious and patently illegal constructions and encroachments that we see every single day in every city in the country? What happens to them? Why is no action being taken even as we see multi-storied slums across the metros, even as we see commercial establishments illegally occupy footpaths and even the roads?

All should be punished, as those affected in Campa Cola are being. But till authorities across the country take action in an even-handed manner, Campa Cola residents will feel aggrieved – with some reason to do so.