No relief for Adarsh from high court

Members of the controversial Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society in Cuffe Parade will have to do without water and electricity for now as the Bombay high court on Thursday declined to grant them an interim relief.

Members of the controversial Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society in Cuffe Parade will have to do without water and electricity for now as the Bombay high court on Thursday declined to grant them an interim relief.

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The housing society and one of its members, Retired Brigadier Rakesh Chopra, had moved the court after civic authorities cut-off water and power supply, following revocation of occupation certificate by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

A division bench of justice BH Marlapalle and justice UD Salvi said, "There are serious doubts as of now if the land could have been allotted to the petitioner (Adarsh) society at all." The bench noted that from the beginning, it was portrayed that Adarsh society was meant for 45 defence personnel, especially those who fought in Kargil. But, the number of members kept increasing and finally the society ended up having 103 members, its present strength, which includes just about 50 defence personnel - either serving or retired.

The bench also observed that while maximum permissible height for any building in CRZ-II is 30 metres, the height of Adarsh is beyond 100.7 metres, a serious security concern.

"In ordinary circumstances, we would have given interim relief. But, not in this case, where several serious issues arise for consideration," the judges said.

The court has now directed the MoEF to complete hearing of the show-cause notice issued by it to Adarsh within three weeks, beginning December 29, when the next hearing on the notice is scheduled.