The civic administration had come under criticism over not initiating action against civic officials who had ignored illegal construction. The state government too had urged the PMC to bring the employee concerned to book for failing to stop the illegal construction.

Accordingly, the administration conducted an inquiry to pin down the person responsible. “We found junior engineer Anwarhusen Mulla not performing his duty and responsible for the negligence,” said Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Pathak.

As per the order, Mulla has been found to ignore the illegal construction that was coming up in the jurisdiction of his posting. Before initiating an action against him, the civic administration had issued a show-cause notice to him.

“The clarification given by him was not satisfactory as he failed to give reasons for delay in serving a notice to the illegal construction and thereafter bringing the structure down during the notice period,” said a civic official.

When contacted, Mulla said he had clarified his stand that he was posted somewhere else when the incident took place and should not be held responsible for ignoring the illegal construction. “I made it clear that the construction did not take place during my tenure at the post. I was transferred in July and the incident took place after that,” he added.