12 November,2010 06:21 AM IST | | Vinod Kumar Menon
Lawyer-activist cites three main breaches of rules that justify partial demolition of Adarsh tower
The 103 members of Adarsh Housing Society will have to pay a heavy price for the illegal high-rise they had hoped to occupy: see it being pulled down to size.
Almost three quarters of the 31-floor building is illegal. Of its 104 m, only 30 m is said to be legal. The remaining is an encroachment as per the law and is liable to be demolished, says activist Y P Singh.
An IPS officer-turned-lawyer, Singh gave three main reasons for demolishing part of the high rise. He said, first of all, the building was constructed without an environment clearance required for any project worth over Rs 5 crore in a Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) area.
Adarsh being in the CRZ area has to abide by the development control rules of 1967. Its maximum height could have been not more than 30 m. But the then Municipal Commissioner Jairaj Phatak permitted a 104-m tower. So, the excess height may have to be torn down.
The other violation is the construction of 12 floors using the floor space index (FSI) which determines how high a building can go that actually belonged to the BEST for a bus depot at Backbay. But the BEST allegedly transferred the FSI allotted for its plot reserved for the depot to Adarsh.
The CRZ norms do not allow for the transfer of FSI from one party to another because that would be tantamount to issuing a Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) certificate and TDRs are not permitted in the island city.
So the entire transfer of FSI from BEST plot to Adarsh Society is illegal, which makes the top 12 floors of the building liable to be demolished.
The third irregularity, Singh said, is the process of allotment itself. When the allotment was sought, the prime consideration was that this land was meant for ex- and serving defence personnel, particularly those involved in Kargil.
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But the erroneous process and false facts on the basis of which the allotment was granted rendered the allotment illegal.
People who fall out of the categories that merit occupation of the building were handed the flats, namely politicians and bureaucrats, while the deserving ones were given the short shrift. Once the entire allotment is cancelled no body shall have a right in the Adarsh building.
What it may mean for the owners
Lawyer Y P Singh said that under the provisions of Cooperative Societies Act, 1960, all members of the society lose or gain on a similar footing. So, if members on top floors lose their flats in demolition, they will have to be given flats on the lower floors. Or, the entire building may have to be reconstructed in smaller flats to accommodate all the people who originally owned the flats.
Why Adarsh should be knocked down
Encroachment of environmental rules (CRZ) for construction on coastal areas
The illegal transfer of FSI from a plot reserved for a BEST bus depot to Adarsh Society
The wrongful allotment of flats to people ineligible for ownership in the building
