Clarify if height norms relaxed around Navi Mumbai airport: HC to AAI

After perusing the collector’s affidavit, the bench directed the collector to remove the violating structures and inform the court only if they faced any problem in doing so.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday asked the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to clarify whether it had relaxed the height restrictions on constructions around the proposed Navi Mumbai airport after public interest litigation drew the court’s attention to a note issued by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) last month, purportedly allowing construction of structures up to 160 metres above mean sea level.

The HC also asked the petitioner to add CIDCO as a party respondent to the PIL. (REUTERS)

As per the ministry of civil aviation (Height Restrictions for Safeguarding of Aircraft Operations) Rules, 2015, only constructions of up to 55 metres can be allowed in a 20 km radius of any airport. The HC also asked the petitioner to add CIDCO as a party respondent to the PIL.

With regards to the structures around the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport that violate the height norms, the HC directed the Collector of Mumbai Suburban district to proceed with the demolition of the 15 structures which were in violation, as per the report of the Director General of Civil Aviation and inform the court in the event of any problems.

The division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Makarand Karnik was hearing the PIL filed by advocate Yeshwant Shenoy seeking directions to remove structures in violation of the AAI height restrictions and were in the flight path of services that took off and landed at the airport. Shenoy who filed the PIL in 2019 also sought action against the structures identified by the DG of civil aviation in his 2013 report.

The Mumbai suburban district collector Nidhi Choudhari in an affidavit informed the bench that eight of the 48 structures, including unauthorised portions of buildings near the CSMIA which flouted height norms, would be demolished in a month by the deputy collector, encroachment removal.

The affidavit further stated that the collector’s office was facing difficulty in ascertaining details of 15 violating structures and hence could not initiate action against them. It also said that 22 structures had already been removed.

After perusing the collector’s affidavit, the bench directed the collector to remove the violating structures and inform the court only if they faced any problem in doing so.

During the course of arguments, Shenoy informed the bench about a CIDCO notice issued last month wherein it purportedly stated that the height restriction norms around the proposed airport at Navi Mumbai had been lifted based on a decision of AAI.

Shenoy submitted that the notice had stated that in light of the AAI decision, CIDCO informed the public that it was willing to grant permissions for projects up to 160.1 metres within a 20 km radius of the proposed airport.

The court then directed Shenoy to add CIDCO as a party to the PIL and to place the purported notice of CIDCO on record by Friday and serve notice to the special planning authority as well.

The bench then sought to know from AAI whether it had relaxed the height restrictions in the 20 km radius around the proposed Navi Mumbai airport and asked it to clarify the same in the next hearing and posted the matter to Monday, August 29.