Trouble for Worli’s Palaise Royale
HC says that only 43 floors of the 56-storey building are legal; asks BMC Commissioner to issue a demolition order.
The Bombay High Court set aside the ‘deemed permission’ for a 15-storey public parking lot for the Palais Royale building in Worli and declared that the construction of the 56-storey residential building beyond 43 floors by the developer Shree Ram Urban Infrastructure Ltd was patently illegal. The Court directed the BMC Commissioner to recalculate the permissible FSI, and issue a demolition order for the portion that is found illegal.
Shree Ram Urban Infrastructure Ltd began planning to construct a 15-storeyed parking in 2009, after the government announced to increase planned parking lots in the city, which allowed the developer to add another 13 floors to the 46-storey building. Even though permission to construct the planned parking lot was granted only until the plinth, the developer went ahead and constructed all of the planned parking lot and extended the building to 56 floors. The limit for the planned parking lot was later brought down to just four floors, but the developer argued that there was “deemed permission” and it was thus legal.
Justice A S Oka and Justice C V Bhadang observed that it was fortunate that no one had moved into the building yet. The bench stopped the developer from making an application for grant of the Occupancy Certificate, which meant that no-one will be able to shift into the building until the matter is settled.
The developer will now submit a new plan after the BMC chief reworks the FSI. The court accepted the BMC Commissioner’s order on other counts; saying that the common passage area and swimming pools on certain floors be counted as a part of sanctioned area for construction. The developer claimed these areas to be deducted from the constructible component which would have allowed him to construct more floors and flats. The Palais Royale towers over every other Worli building. It’s apartments are between 4,000 and 14,000 square feet. A 10,000 square foot flat costs around Rs 50 crore and apartments are only sold by invitation.
The Bombay High Court set aside the ‘deemed permission’ for a 15-storey public parking lot for the Palais Royale building in Worli and declared that the construction of the 56-storey residential building beyond 43 floors by the developer Shree Ram Urban Infrastructure Ltd was patently illegal. The Court directed the BMC Commissioner to recalculate the permissible FSI, and issue a demolition order for the portion that is found illegal.
Shree Ram Urban Infrastructure Ltd began planning to construct a 15-storeyed parking in 2009, after the government announced to increase planned parking lots in the city, which allowed the developer to add another 13 floors to the 46-storey building. Even though permission to construct the planned parking lot was granted only until the plinth, the developer went ahead and constructed all of the planned parking lot and extended the building to 56 floors. The limit for the planned parking lot was later brought down to just four floors, but the developer argued that there was “deemed permission” and it was thus legal.
The court asked the BMC Commissioner to reassess the area constructed as refuge area in the building keeping in mind the circumstances; the number of flats on each floor and number of people who could use the refuge area in case of any eventuality. The BMC Commissioner had, in September 2013, stated that only 4 per cent of the total area can be allowed as refuge area. The total area constructed as refuge area in the building is over 4 lakh square feet.
Justice A S Oka and Justice C V Bhadang observed that it was fortunate that no one had moved into the building yet. The bench stopped the developer from making an application for grant of the Occupancy Certificate, which meant that no-one will be able to shift into the building until the matter is settled.
The developer will now submit a new plan after the BMC chief reworks the FSI. The court accepted the BMC Commissioner’s order on other counts; saying that the common passage area and swimming pools on certain floors be counted as a part of sanctioned area for construction. The developer claimed these areas to be deducted from the constructible component which would have allowed him to construct more floors and flats. The Palais Royale towers over every other Worli building. It’s apartments are between 4,000 and 14,000 square feet. A 10,000 square foot flat costs around Rs 50 crore and apartments are only sold by invitation.
