Bombay HC orders inspection of residential towers taken over by TMC for quarantine facility

The court gave its order after a plea was filed by five homebuyers in My City Complex, which has 10 24-storey towers, of which TMC authorities plan to requisition two for high-risk Covid-19 patients.

The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday appointed a senior court official to inspect a newly constructed residential complex at Shil after the homebuyers of the society took exception to the Thane Municipal Corporation’s (TMC) plan to requisition two high-rise towers in the residential colony and convert them into a quarantine facility for high-risk coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients.

The judicial registrar has been asked to examine all the buildings in the complex and their occupancy status. (HT photo)

A two-member HC bench, comprising Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and justice Riyaz Chagla, has directed the court’s judicial registrar to visit My City Complex at Shil, located between Mumbra and Dombivli, and submit a report within seven days.

The judicial registrar has been asked to examine all the buildings in the complex and their occupancy status.

The court gave its order after a plea was filed by five homebuyers in My City Complex, which has 10 24-storey towers, of which TMC authorities plan to requisition two for high-risk Covid-19 patients.

Though the Thane civic authorities claimed that the two towers that they had sought to requisition were unoccupied, the petitioners challenged TMC’s assertions.

Senior advocate Ram Apte, who appeared on behalf of TMC, said the buildings were given their occupancy certificate on March 9 – a little over a fortnight before the nationwide lockdown restrictions were imposed on March 25 to contain the viral outbreak – and logically they couldn’t have been occupied in such a short span of time.

On June 2, over a 100 homebuyers of the My City Complex had clashed with TMC authorities when the latter visited the residential complex to conduct a survey in a bid to requisition two high-rise towers as a quarantine facility for high-risk Covid-19 patients.