With part of the Esplanade Mansion collapsing last year and killing one person, it was high time that the MHADA declared the building ‘unsafe for inhabitation’.
But lawyers are unwilling to vacate the ‘ideal location’
With part of the Esplanade Mansion collapsing last year and killing one person, it was high time that the MHADA declared the building ‘unsafe for inhabitation’. But some lawyers may be disturbed if repairs of the building require them to evacuate.
Given its ideal location, with both the City Civil and Sessions Court as well as the Bombay High Court a stone’s throw away, a number of lawyers have occupied premises in the building built before 1945.
There are 150 tenements in the building with 120 commercial and 30 residential premises. Senior criminal lawyer Majeed Memon, who has had his office in the building for 10 years said, “The repairs need to be conducted so as to avoid any kind of damage to life or property. But it can be done in parts, so that the entire building does not require to be evacuated.”
Although individual notices have not been served to occupants of the building, the notice put up by the MHADA clearly states that living in the building is dangerous and those putting up in the building should continue doing so at their own risk. Most lawyers with offices in the cessed building pay anything ranging from Rs5,000 to Rs15,000 as rent, depending on the area.
The reconstruction work would disrupt the functioning of a number of lawyers’ offices as it would not only mean moving out lock, stock and barrel, but also entails finding another place in the vicinity to move into. “We provide accommodation in transit camps to residential occupants but commercial space owners have to find alternative accommodation on their own,” said Nirmal Kumar Deshmukh, MHADA’s chief officer, Mumbai Buildings Repair and Reconstruction.
“According to the MHADA Act, the authority should provide alternative accommodation when a building is being repaired to both residential and commercial occupants,” said Nilesh Pavaskar, another advocate holding an office in the Esplanade Mansion. He added, “In this case, MHADA can afford to do this as most lawyers in
the buildings are sub-tenants and the original tenants are different.”
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