HC boost for redevelopment of old, dilapidated buildings in Mumbai

The Bombay high court on Tuesday struck down a corrigendum issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), which restricted the benefit of floor space index (FSI) of 3 only to certain redevelopment projects.

In a major boost to redevelopment of old, dilapidated cessed buildings in Mumbai, the Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday struck down a corrigendum issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), which restricted the benefit of floor space index (FSI) of 3 only to certain redevelopment projects.

The CRZ notification of January 2011 had recognised the need to pave the way for redevelopment of old, dilapidated cessed buildings (constructed prior to 1940) in the island city and provided the development control regulation (DCR) prevailing on the date of approval for redevelopment of such buildings will be applicable to them. The corrigendum issued on March 29, 2011, however, changed the wording of the clause in the CRZ notification and provided that the DCR prevailing on the date of issuance of the notification – January 6, 2011 – will be applicable to the redevelopment projects.

In effect, the corrigendum took away the benefit of an amendment to the DCR in May 2011, which extended the benefit of additional 0.5 FSI for redevelopment of cessed buildings.

The division bench of justice VM Kanade and justice AR Joshi accepted the contention raised on behalf of the petitioner company struck down the corrigendum.