Bombay HC Allows Redevelopment of Chandan Cinema In Juhu Up to 15 meters height

The Bombay High Court (HC) on October 11 held a notification issued in June 1976 against the redevelopment of the Chandan Cinema in the Juhu area of Mumbai. This step taken by the Bombay High Court clears the way for the redevelopment of the iconic place. Now the owner has the permit to construct the structure up to the height of 15 meters, provided the other dimensions of the redeveloped building would be the same as the old structure.

Construction in the area of a military installation at Juhu was prohibited by the 1976 notification. Devang Vyas, the Center's additional solicitor general, requested a stay of the judgment's effects. The landowner, Sameer Baijnath Joshi, filed a petition stating that the stay would not be required since he would need to submit a new design for the property's renovation, and getting that plan approved would take some time.

The case was being heard by a division bench of Justice Sunil B Shukre and Justice Firdosh P Pooniwalla. The bench refused to stay its verdict. The bench said that it would not cause any prejudice to the Centre.

The theatre was constructed in 1973 on a 3627-square-meter plot of land in Juhu. It had to be shut down in March 2017 due to deteriorating conditions, as stated in a notice for its demolition issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) under section 354 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1988.

With a built-up area of 18,982.06 square meters and a height of 16.913 meters, the original structure was requested to be demolished within 30 days of the notification date.

First Joshi had made a plan to reconstruct the structure with a basement and ground+11-story building with a height of 50.70 meters above ground level. He had planned to use a floor space index of 12722 square meters.

In May 2018, Joshi obtained a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Airport Authority Of India (AAI). Joshi was informed that as the property was close to a Signal Transmitting Station (STS), a defense unit, he should get a NOC from the station commander, headquarters in Maharashtra Gujarat, and Goa Area.

Construction is permitted up to a height of 15.24 meters within 500 yards (457.20 meters) of the defense installation's perimeter wall, according to June 1976's contested decision.

In July 2019, considering Joshi’s plea, BMC wrote a letter to the station commander to consider the redevelopment proposal. He rejected the next month, on the ground that the same violated provisions of the impugned notification.

Joshi then submitted an application to the BMC in November 2019 with an updated building design that called for a total height of 15 meters - well inside the maximum height allowed under the 1976 notification. Joshi filed the case in the high court after the BMC wrote the station commander once more requesting that they take into consideration his updated proposal. Joshi received no answer to this letter.

In an interim order dated November 3, 2020, the high court instructed the BMC to review the petitioner's updated plan. The plan should be determined to comply with the law, the civic body was requested to provide approval up to the height of the original construction. Joshi had declared he wouldn't start building until the high court issued more directives.

Senior counsel Milind Sathe and petitioner lawyer Bhushan Deshmukh stated that the station commander had given the go-ahead for other nearby constructions that were taller and closer to the station than the petitioner's land.

The bench then noted, “We hold that if there is a permanent construction already completed at the commencement of the said notification, then redevelopment of the said permanent construction is not barred by the said notification. However, we are of the view that keeping in mind the purpose of the said notification, the said redeveloped structure will have to be of the permissible height of 15.24 meters or less and will have to be of the same dimensions as the already existing permanent construction.”