Curation Team
MUMBAI: Even as 34 occupants vacated their flats in Tardeo‘s Willingdon View housing society on Thursday, a day after the Bombay high court deadline, the residents, led by local MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha, met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani seeking speedy clearance of the Occupation Certificate (OC) for the top 18 floors.
On Tuesday, HC had refused to extend the Aug 27 deadline for occupants to vacate the top 18 floors of the 34-storey building which do not have OC.
Assistant municipal commissioner of D ward Manish Walunju said each floor has two flats, with some having amalgamated them as well. “Based on the HC directive, we checked if the residents vacated the top 18 floors. Thirty-four flat occupants have vacated,” he said.
When TOI visited the premises on Thursday afternoon, the situation at the residential complex was tense. While some residents complied and moved out, others continued to stay put in the lobby area. “Some have moved in with their relatives, others aren’t sure where to move out,” said a resident.
Lodha told TOI that the society members said they were willing to pay the penalty for the delay up to the date of issuance of the mandatory no-objection certificate (NOC), but claimed that despite fulfilling fire safety requirements, the process was being unnecessarily prolonged.
“The residents were being ‘harassed’ by the fire department despite complying with the norms. During our meeting with the chief minister, he ordered immediate action and directed the department concerned to issue an OC. The CM has come to the help of residents, and we are thankful to him,” said Lodha, who also sat in protest at the BMC headquarters.
The chairman of the society, Narendra Bhandari, said, “We have complied with the court orders and vacated the premises. We are hoping that justice will be done to us.”
A petition was filed by Willingdon resident Sunil Jhaveri alleging gross illegalities with no fire NOC and only part OC for floors 1-16. BMC flagged illegalities in the construction of floors 17-34. On July 15, HC directed occupants of floors 17-34 to vacate within two weeks. On Aug 1, Supreme Court upheld this order. On Aug 6, HC granted a further three weeks’ time to vacate by Aug 27 and sought an undertaking from the affected residents.
