HC rejects plea to stop demolition of building

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court, on Monday, had rejected the petition of a few disgruntled flat buyers in the New Cuffe Parade project at Wadala after the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) assured the court of ensuring that the demolition of the additional floors would be done with proper safety precautions and the superstructure would not be damaged.

A division bench of acting chief justice Naresh Patil and justice Girish Kulkarni was hearing a writ petition filed by a few flat buyers who had not got possession of their flats in the project or their flats were to be demolished. The petitioners had challenged the partial occupation certificate issued by the MMRDA to the developers that enabled them to give possession of the completed flats while permission for the additional floors was yet to be decided.

The petitioners had submitted that though the appellate authority of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) had restricted the height of the buildings, the developers had constructed additional floors, which they are forced to demolish.

However, the counsel for MMRDA pointed out that the additional floors had been constructed based on a communication with the AAI in 2013, which was later overruled by the appellate authority in 2015. During the pendency of hearing with the appellate authority, around 700 flat owners were allowed to take possession of the flats by issuing the partial occupational certificate. The counsel further submitted that the demolition of the additional floors in the buildings was already been carried out and a structural audit report, which confirmed the stability of the superstructure, had been done.

After hearing all sides, the bench observed that there was nothing amiss in the construction of additional floors and their subsequent demolition and hence rejected the petition.