`Builder must give Mhada 9,700 sq ft in Dadar bldg' : The Times of India Mumbai:

The Bombay high court has directed a city-based developer to hand over to Mhada an area of around 9,700 square feet in their newly-constructed building in the heart of Central Mumbai at Naigaum Cross Road, Dadar. This will be in addition o the over 6,000 sq ft of area on the ground loor which they have to give to the BMC for a municipal market.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Anil Menon pointed out that the builder, Aarts Module International Pvt Ltd, had obtained building permissions and additional construc ion rights by agreeing to the conditions and these were not o their “detriment“.

The builder had claimed hat surrendering such a large area to Mhada would make the project very expensive and unaffordable. They urged the court that the area for the municipal market should be part of the area to be given to Mhada and deducted from the space that has to be surrendered.

Senior advocate P Ankale Senior advocate P Ankale saria, counsel for Mhada, pointed out that while the cost of con struction was Rs 2,500 per sq ft, the market value that the builder would make was 10 times that amount Rs 25,000 per square foot. The advocate said that the builder had availed of an FSI of 2.5 while constructing the building, in place of the 1.33 FSI that is ordinarily permitted. Further, the area for the market was excluded from FSI calculations. “The developers have earned an advantage by selling 22,780 square feet of built up area in the open market, (and have earned) far in excess of the cost of the entire project,“ said advocate Ankalesaria.

The high court in May 2015 had upheld the law that required those undertaking redevelopment of old buildings in the island city to hand over a percentage of flats to Mhada from their surplus area at a price decided by the agency .

In the present case, the land in Dadar, spread over 1,474 square metres, was reserved for a municipal market. The residents of a pre-existing building on the plot opted for redevelopment. As per the terms, the builder would construct the building using an FSI of 2.5. In return, around 6,000 square feet, free from FSI, would be given to BMC for a municipal market.A percentage of the surplus area would be given to Mhada to rehabilitate persons in transit camps.