MUMBAI: In a high-stakes legal battle, the Bombay High Court in an interim order on Tuesday restrained developer SD Corporation from making additions or changes to the 60-storey Twin Towers in Tardeo, dubbed ‘The Imperial’.A group of 48 residents of Towers A and B took their developer to court over plans to build additional buildings in the layout and more apartments in the towers. They said this conflicted with a 2009 construction plan the developer had shown them.
On Tuesday, the HC restrained the developer and said no changes could be made without residents’ consent. The HC said that the proposed action of the builders to build more by “using a huge sales component of 1,91,625 sq ft is nothing but exploiting an opportunity created due to the delay in completion of the slum project”. The luxury towers were created as part of a slum rehabilitation program in Tardeo’s MP Mill Compound.
The legal battle was fought before Judge Sandeep Marne, who delivered a 170-page judgment on Tuesday. The judge held that by referring to the availability of more buildable space due to fluctuations in the eligibility of slum dwellers under the contours of the Slum Act, the builder could not have contravened the earlier disclosure to flat buyers under the Maharashtra Ownership of Flats Act (MOFA). The HC also said that all sales would be subject to the outcome of the lawsuit and the builder had to make such disclosure.The slum project was awarded in 2002 and the last disclosure to buyers was for an amended 2009 plan to build two 60-storey towers while retaining space for a third with 38,500 m² of buildable space.
The HC at this stage stated that the third tower should not cross this area. The builder claimed that the FSI had been increased to 4.21 for the slum scheme under the new DCR 2034. The HC also rejected their plea to appoint a court collector for clubhouse, refuge and podium levels. The HC accepted senior counsel Pravin Samdani, Prateek Seksaria and argued for Abhishek Salian’s contention for apartment owners that the original FSI in 2009 of less than 3 should be frozen for the three towers. The HC stated that builders are allowed to build “contrary to the disclosure in the 2009 plan, the action cannot be reversed”. However, after hearing the developer’s senior counsel Virag Tulzapurkar, Ravi Kadam, Zal Andhyarujina, and counsel Karl Tamboly, along with law firm Wadia Ghandy, the HC opined that the remaining ‘sales component’ area of ​​over 96,000 sq ft can be used as TDR elsewhere.
After ruling on a plea filed by the developer, the HC declined to stay its order on the limited issue of covering the construction of Tower C. Construction is yet to begin, the HC noted.
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