HC cites violations, asks residents to vacate 17 floors of South Mumbai society
A bench of justices GS Kulkarni and Arif Doctor observed that the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and the housing society set a bad example of protecting the construction
The Bombay high court has ordered the residents occupying flats from the 17th to 34th floor of the 34-storey Willingdon View Cooperative Housing Society in South Mumbai’s upscale Tardeo to vacate within two weeks, saying they were illegally occupied for over a decade. The court said that the flats pose a risk to human life, violate planning and municipal regulations due to the absence of fire safety clearance and an occupation certificate (OC).
A bench of justices GS Kulkarni and Arif Doctor observed that the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and the housing society set a bad example of protecting the construction without an OC. “They are asserting that they be permitted to occupy such construction with impunity, that too by raising pleas contrary to law, to the effect that the court nonetheless permits occupation of such construction. There cannot be a plea more audacious than this,” the court said.
The court directed appropriate steps in case the residents failed to comply with the order to vacate the flats. It added that the flat purchasers took the law into their own hands by occupying the flats, with no OC, and called them a selfish lot. The court, which will take up the case next on July 29, will hear the parties on the issues other than the consequences of no fire clearance for the flats on the first to 16 floors with OC. It added that it does not approve of the residents living on these floors.
The petitioner, Sunil Jhaveri, moved the court, highlighting the illegality of the building, which has been partially occupied since 2008. He said that the first 16 floors were issued a partial OC, the top 18 floors never received one, and the building was without a fire department No Objection Certificate (NOC).
Jhaveri’s lawyer, senior advocate Sharan Jagtiani, placed on record a chart of the notices the MCGM has issued between 2011 to 2025, asking the residents to obtain the NOC for the alteration and demolition of the unauthorised and illegal modification of the flats from the first to 34 floors. Jagtiani argued that there can be no justification for the residents to occupy floors 17 to 34 in the absence of the corporation’s OC.
Senior advocate Dinyar Madon, representing the housing society, sought one year to take appropriate steps. He said the matter needs to be considered on humanitarian grounds and that the residents need to be permitted to continue living there for some time to allow them to seek regularisation of the irregularities and obtain an OC.
