HC permits redevelopment of Chandan Cinema in Juhu

The Bombay high court has allowed the redevelopment of Chandan Cinema in Juhu, stating that the Works of Defence Act permits it. The court clarified that the height of the new structure must be limited to 15.24 meters as stipulated in the notification. The cinema hall was constructed in 1973 and the owner received a notice to pull it down due to its dangerous condition. After facing rejection from the defence authorities, the owner proposed a redevelopment plan within the height limit. Residents around the military station are disappointed with the judgment and are calling for the repeal of the notification.

The Bombay high court on Wednesday allowed redevelopment of Chandan Cinema in Juhu, stating that the Works of Defence Act, 1903, allows redevelopment of permanent structures completed before June 19, 1976, when the ministry of defence issued a notification imposing restrictions on land around Juhu wireless transmission station.

Mumbai, India - Oct. 12, 2023: A view of Chandan Cinema Building at Juhu in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, October 12, 2023. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

“If there is a permanent construction already completed at the commencement of the said notification, then redevelopment of the said permanent construction is not barred,” a division bench of justice Sunil Shukre and justice Firdosh Pooniwala said while hearing a petition filed by the owner of Chandan Cinema, Sameer Joshi.

The bench, however, clarified that the height of the redeveloped structure would be limited to 15.24 metres, as stipulated in the notification.

The cinema hall, which spreads over around 3,628 square metres in Juhu Vile Parle Development layout, was constructed in 1973 and it has a height of around 17 metres. According to the petitioner, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had in March 2017 issued him a notice asking him to pull down the structure, as it was in a dangerous condition.

Joshi decided to redevelop the property by constructing a ground-plus-11-storey structure with a height of over 50 metres. In 2019, when he was about to apply to BMC for approval, he was told that he would require a no objection certificate from defence authorities, as the property was in the vicinity of the transmission station, the plea said.

The administrative commandant for Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa area rejected his application on August 16, 2019, on grounds that the proposal violated provisions of the notification issued under the WoD Act on June 19, 1976. The cinema owner then changed his plan and proposed to redevelop his property by restricting the height to 15.24 metres, permissible under a proviso in the notification, Joshi said in the petition.

After defence authorities did not respond to his revised proposal he approached the high court in 2021. Joshi said in his plea that the notification allowed permanent constructions up to a height of 15.24 metres and redevelopment of those structures completed before issuance of the notification.

The advocate appearing for the defence authorities, however, claimed that the redevelopment was not permissible under the proviso, as it only tolerated the already completed permanent constructions within 500 yards (457.20 metres) of the compound wall of the military installation.

The bench rejected the stand taken by the defence authorities and said that the purpose of inserting the proviso was to protect the existing permanent constructions and therefore “the first proviso did not bar redevelopment of the existing permanent constructions”.

The bench further said that the Central government had issued the notification under section 7 of the WoD Act, which conferred on it the discretion to decide which restrictions contained in its sub-sections would apply to the land in the vicinity of the military establishments and make an exception in case of the already completed constructions.

Meanwhile, residents from more than 180 buildings around the military station, who are impacted by the notification that was implemented in the aftermath of a scam in Adarsh cooperative housing society in Cuffe Parade in 2010, are disappointed by the judgment.

“The notification is an emergency product. All buildings were built with official permission. We made several representations before the defence ministry and even the prime minister’s office but there has been no response to our demands of granting permission for redevelopment. The notification needs to be repealed,” said professor B B Lakdawala, who has been spearheading the fight against the notification under the aegis of Juhu Wireless Affected Residents Association.