Mumbai: Flat buyers move High Court, want ground to 40th floor registered under RERA

The upscale project in Wadala. (Express Photo by Prashant Nadkar)

A group of buyers, who have bought flats in the ‘New Cuffe Parade’ project at Wadala, have moved the Bombay  High Court, seeking that ‘ground to 40th floor’ of the four towers by Lodha Group be brought under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA).

A group of 23 customers have filed a writ petition seeking directions for the records and papers pertaining to the issuance of the part Occupancy Certificate (OC) and Completion Certificate (CC) to the four towers of the New Cuffe Parade project. The petitioners have sought that the court quash the part OC and CC issued to the towers.

The Indian Express had earlier reported that the group had recently served legal notices to the Lodha Group and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) alleging defects in construction and wrongful demolition of higher floors at the four towers of the project — Evoq, Enchante, Dioro and Eliseum.

The four towers were granted part Occupancy Certificate (OC) for ground to 40th floor by the MMRDA on June 8, 2017. Thereafter, the developer started offering possession to homebuyers. However, customers said that the flats were still under construction and not ready for possession. Since these flats were given possession before the RERA came into being, the ground to 41st floors were not registered with the regulatory authority. Moreover, they had alleged that the 41st to 45th floors were being demolished even as customers resided in the building.

The petitioners have now sought directions from the court that the ground to 40th floor be registered under RERA. They have also sought alternate accommodation till the demolition work of the top floors is completed.

Apart from the MMRDA, other respondents in the petition are Brihanmumbai Municipal Commission, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India and Bellissimo Crown Buildmart Pvt Ltd, a Lodha group company.

Lodha Group had refuted all allegations and a spokesperson has said: “It is a multi-phase project comprising more than 12 towers. Phase 1, which consists of four towers, has been completed in 2017 and possession has been offered. We have already handed over more than 500 units to the buyers. We strongly refute the allegations that possession has not been offered and we are happy to provide possession to buyers who claim otherwise.”

The spokesperson had said: “The permissible height was finally clarified to us in early 2018, almost seven years after commencement of the project, and based on that we have to had to make changes to the terrace level, which is complete now and will be fully ready soon.”