Recently, Bombay High Court rejected a last-minute petition by the flat purchasers to save a seven-storey illegal building, Veer Heights in Kalyan, from being pulled down. The division bench of Justices Naresh Patil and Girish Kulkarni stated that they were not going to be lenient towards the matter for the flat purchasers.
However, the judges said that the flat purchasers were free to prosecute the builder, Prashant Rane to recover their investment. The court also stated that earlier Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) had turned to police protection on earlier occasions for demolishing the building.
The illegality of the building was not something which was unknown to the (flat purchasers) it is also not the case that any owner of the land had sought...building permission. It is also not in dispute that the Municipal Corporation has issued notices with regard to this illegal construction and it cannot be said that the petitioners who have the intention to hang on to the unauthorised constructions, were not aware about all these proceedings," said the judges.
Meanwhile, the bench was hearing petitions and one of them consisted of the one filed by the flat purchasers that sought review of the August 2018 verdict of the high court. The owners had claimed that they were bonafide owners but the bench dismissed their petitions. They stated that the developer had earlier approached the municipal corporation for regularisation and now the petitioners are trying to do the same. However, the judges decided to not grant any leniency in the matter.
The court stated that it was shocking how the developer gathered the courage to carry out the construction work of a seven-storey building without permissions and despite this, the authorities failed to notice anything about the illegal construction.
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