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HC doesn’t find everything fine with Worli mall

The mall has allegedly been constructed on land reserved for housing dishoused persons and a municipal school.

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MUMBAI: The upcoming swanky Atria mall at Worli, which boasts of housing the country’s first Rolls Royce showroom and other international brands like Mont Blanc, Sony World and Guess, has come under the Bombay High Court scanner.

The HC on Wednesday admitted a petition filed by social activist Medha Patkar challenging the legality of the mall, which has allegedly been constructed on land reserved for housing dishoused persons and a municipal school.

“Prima facie there seems to be some irregularity in the development of the mall,” Justice RM Lodha and Justice AV Mohta said. The construction of the 1.80 lakh square feet mall on Annie Beasant Road is almost complete. The court, however, refused to grant a stay on the inauguration of the mall.

The Judges directed the BMC to deposit Rs45 crore collected from the developers of the mall with the court registrar within a week. The developer, who was allowed to construct the mall, was asked to redevelop the existing school, build and hand over tenements free of cost to the BMC and pay an additional Rs80 crore, of which Rs45 crore has been paid.

“We want to ensure that the Rs45 crore collected by the BMC is used for buying tenements for project-affected persons and not paying salaries of BMC staff,” Justice RM Lodha and Justice AV Mohta said. The court also directed the BMC to file a reply stating the time frame within which it will procure the 1,845 tenements for housing dishoused persons.

The petitioner’s advocate YP Singh stated that the mall has come up in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and has been allowed a floor space index (FSI) of 2 against the norm of 1.33.

He alleged that area of the school, which has been redeveloped, has been reduced and that the structure has been pushed near a drain. He added that the mall has not provided adequate parking facility. 

Senior Counsel Aspi Chinoy representing the developer denied the petitioner’s allegations stating that all requisite permissions were in place for the mall. The matter will now be heard in April.
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