High Court Directs Mhada to Issue Occupation Certificate to Patra Chawl Free Sale Building in Siddharth Nagar, Goregaon West

High Court to Mhada: Issue Occupation Certificate to Patra Chawl Free Sale Building 

Siddharth Nagar, Goregaon West, Mumbai: 

In a reprieve to flat buyers in the free sale portion of Goregaon's Patra Chawl redevelopment project, the Bombay high court on Tuesday ordered Mhada, which is currently self-developing the project, to issue an occupancy certificate (OC) to a builder for the free-sale Ekta Tripolis tower within two weeks.

Attorneys said that this may be the first OC for the project.

The panel of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale that issued the ruling last week also said that "the whole project is out of balance."

At least two of the three towers produced by Ekta Everglade Homes Pvt Ltd are complete and awaiting Occupancy Certificate and the building of the free sale component has proceeded. The High Court was hearing a suit brought by 15 flat buyers at Ekta Tripolis who sought judicial intervention in the issue of the OC.

Guru Ashish Construction, a subsidiary of HDIL, is redeveloping 672 tenements on Mhada land as part of the 47-acre project, which is more than double the area of Oval Maidan. Guru Ashish is now bankrupt.

In 2008, a contract was reached to rehabilitate 672 residents. Ten years later, in 2018, Mhadahad cancelled the joint development agreement (JDA) because to the developer's failure to adhere to the schedule.

The National Company Law Tribunal permitted Mhadato to remove the whole Siddharth Nagar property from Guru Ashish's estate in liquidation last month on the grounds that the developer "violated the joint development agreement."

Guru Ashish intended to construct houses for 672 households in need of restoration, offer Mhada the necessary materials, and then profit from free-market building.

According to the petition, in 2011, Mhada granted Guru Ashish permission to sell the bigger land's free-sale component FSI. Between 2011 and 2013, Ekta Everglade was awarded development rights and more than 45,000 square metres of FSI in exchange for more than Rs 300 crore.

Guru Ashish handed nine developers the authority to construct the free-sale component. The HC was informed that three contractors, including Ekta Everglade, had finished work. Mhada has filed a counter-affidavit arguing that Ekta could not be granted OC until Guru Ashish gave Mhada its component.

The ruling issued by HC on February 22, 2023 noted, "The most recent information from 2018 indicated that about 68% of the rehabilitation component had been completed."

Tuesday, after hearing senior counsel Zal Andhyarujina for flat buyers, Pravin Samdhani for Ekta Everglade, and advocate Manisha Jagtap for Mhada, the High Court stated that since Mhada is in charge of development, it sees no reason why it cannot issue OC to towers A and B in Ekta Tripolis, which will be completed in 2020-21.

Source: The Times of India