Jains Westminster demolition | Madras High Court directs Greater Chennai Corporation not to demand voluminous documents

The Bench asked how the local body could seek such documents when it was the court which had ordered for redevelopment of the entire apartment complex.

The Madras High Court on Monday directed Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) not to insist on production of voluminous documents to grant permission for the demolition of three 17-storey towers of Jains Westminster apartments, which had become unsafe to reside due to chloride erosion, at Saligramam.

A Division Bench of Justices S.S. Sundar and N. Senthilkumar made it clear that the high-rise towers were to be demolished and the property was to be redeveloped at the instance of the court and in the larger interest of the 472 flat owners and therefore the local body should not end up creating hurdles in the process.

The judges were perturbed over a letter written by the GCC to Jain Housing and Constructions Limited on August 7 asking the latter to produce encumbrance certificate from 1975 to till date, individual flat ownership documents and no objection certificates (NOCs) from the banks which had lent loans.

The Bench wondered how could the local body seek such documents when it was the court which had ordered for redevelopment of the entire apartment complex after experts from Indian Institute of Technology-Madras had found the existing high rise structures to be highly precarious.

The judges made it clear that the GCC could at the most insist only on production of receipts to prove that all flat owners had paid their property tax dues and recorded the submission of senior counsel Vijay Narayan, assisted by Naveen Kumar Murthi, representing the builder, that the property tax had been remitted up to date.

Mr. Narayan said all inhabitants of the three high-rise buildings had been evacuated after the court constituted a two-member committee comprising its retired judges K.N. Basha and K. Kannan. He said they had been provided alternative rental accommodation at builder’s cost and so, the three buildings were ready for demolition.

However, senior counsel AL. Somayaji, representing the residents’ welfare association and P. Wilson, appearing for individual flat owners, requested the court to resolve a dispute between the flat owners and builder over sharing the additional area of construction before permitting the builder to go ahead with the redevelopment.

It was brought to the notice of the court that the existing constructed area was 7.3 lakh sq.ft., but it would go up to 9.5 lakh sq,.ft., after the redevelopment, in view of the increase in Floor Space Index (FSI), and therefore the builder wanted to share the additional area of construction with the flat owners at the rate of 65:35

However, the residents’ welfare association insisted on sharing it at the ratio of 80:20 and the court constituted committee had recommended sharing of the additional construction at the rate of 60:40, Mr. Somayaji said and impressed upon the need for the court to finally fix a figure with respect to the sharing ratio.

After hearing them, the judges decided to pass orders on the issue on August 29.

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