HC orders VJTI to conduct overall audit of Patra Chawl rehab building
While ordering for the structural audit, the high court also directed Relcon Infraprojects Ltd to deposit the legal charges of the VJTI for carrying out the said structural audit
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court directed Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) to nominate two experts to conduct a full audit, including structural audit, to assess the overall construction quality of the rehabilitation building in Siddharth Nagar aka Patra Chawl, by next Monday. This directive comes after tenants of the erstwhile barracks complained that the construction quality of the buildings was very poor. The petitioner, Yamuna Shejwal, a 73-year-old Patra Chawl tenant, approached the high court on Wednesday after a slab fell from the permanent alternate accommodation allotted to her at Goregaon on April 14.
Patra Chawls were originally built as military barracks by the British during World War II. After independence, the barracks were handed over to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA). There were over 660 tenants, and the housing units were spread across 47 acres. In 2008, MHADA took up the redevelopment project and appointed Guru Ashish Construction Private Limited (GACPL), a sister concern of real estate company Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), to rehabilitate the tenants and redevelop the locality.
A division-bench of justice Ajey Gadkari and justice Kamal Khata was hearing the petition which stated that Shejwal and 671 others, were deprived of their right to a proper alternate permanent accommodation.
On April 4, the MHADA announced a lottery for allotting permanent alternate accommodation for 663 eligible tenants of under the Patra Chawl redevelopment project. According to the MHADA statement, the nearly 15-year wait for houses by the members of the Siddharth Nagar (Patra Chawl) Co-operative Housing Society in Goregaon West ended on April 4. However, developments on ground have raised questions about the safety of the prospective residents.
“The tenants have been agitating for our right to permanent alternative accommodation for at least 16 years now. Most of the tenants are still living in rented premises. Earlier this month, a lottery was announced but we have refused to accept the allotted premises,” said advocate Samir Vaidya, who represented Shejwal. “There are strong questions about the structural stability of the building. How can we live in such structures?” Vaidya asked, adding that MHADA must be held responsible for the goof up.
Milind Borikar, chief officer of the Mumbai Board of MHADA, had said that any structural repairs required within one year of taking possession, will be provided free of cost by MHADA through appointed contractors.
Shejwal, however, claimed that MHADA and others concerned with the redevelopment, like Ekta Everglade Homes Private Limited and GACPL, played a fraud on the high court by failing to disclose the appointment of Relcon Infraprojects as subcontractor for constructing the buildings. Shejwal had in 2023 sought Relcon’s removal from the project as it was blacklisted from taking up government projects in 2019 for poor performance. While ordering for the structural audit, the high court also directed Relcon Infraprojects Ltd to deposit the legal charges of the VJTI for carrying out the said structural audit.
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