Mumbai: Beach resort in Gorai that broke coastal rules to finally go

The Sun Beach Resort, at Gorai beach. File pic/Nimesh Dave

A year after mid-day exposed violations in coastal and civic rules, the Sun Beach Resort in Gorai will finally be razed to the ground, said BMC officials, as the Bombay High Court has dismissed the owner's plea for relief. A source who manages the property said they have applied for regularisation. Mid-Day had exposed the violations of civic and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules in its reports in April 2022, which prompted the BMC to conduct an inspection of the resort.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), after completing the ground inspection, served a notice to the hotel owners in February for unauthorised construction of rooms on ground floor plus the first floor, security cabin, open shed near swimming pool, banquet, seven wooden shacks (ground plus one) and 12 wooden shacks on the ground floor. In order to protect his resort, owner Abdul Hamid Mapkhan Shah immediately moved the Bombay City Civil Court in Dindoshi (Borivli Division, Goregaon). But, civil court judge Ashish Ayachit on April 13 dismissed his appeal for relief.

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The Sun Beach Resort in Gorai. File pic/Nimesh Dave

The owner challenged the civil court's order in the high court. Dismissing his appeal and upholding the civil court's order on April 26, Justice N J Jamadar termed the illegal construction by Sun Beach Resort as "unauthorised development of huge magnitude carried out for commercial exploitation and erection of structures as flagrant violation of the development control regulations and constitutes brazen illegality".

Also Read: Mumbai: Notice issued to Gorai's Sun Beach resort for ‘unauthorised' work

Demolition soon

While Assistant Municipal Commissioner (R Central ward) Sandhya Nandedkar did not return mid-day's calls and messages for comment, a civic official called up the newspaper on her behalf. "The administration is in the process of pulling down the illegal structures of the resort. The demolition will happen soon," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Besides the BMC, the collector office had also issued a notice to Sun Beach Resort. The seating arrangements near/along the seafront, swimming pools and nearly 20 to 25 AC permanent rooms have been built in violation of norms and on land belonging to the state government, it had stated.

While owner Shah was not reachable, Vijay Mishra, who manages the resort, told mid-day that they are seeking to regularise the structures. "We have applied for regularisation. The process for the same is on," he added.

What civil court said

The civil court, in its order, observed that the owner was running the hotel and resort with several rooms and a swimming pool, but there are no documents on record that showed that the owner applied before the BMC for the construction or repairs of these structures.

"It seems that the plaintiff has raised huge construction without the permission of the planning authority. There is no document to produce that suit the structure prior to 1962. Thus, running commercial business without seeking proper permission from the MCGM/Planning authority and demolition of unauthorised structure would not amount to any loss or prejudice to the plaintiff [sic]," the civil court's order mentioned.

April 13
Day civil court issued order in the matter

April 26
Day high court issued order in the matter