Zero tolerance for height norms violations near airport: HC

The Bombay high court on Wednesday said, “there must be zero tolerance for violations of height restrictions near both the domestic and the international airport in the city.”

A division bench led by Justice V M Kanade was hearing an application filed by the developer of a residential building near the international airport in Santacruz, seeking a stay on a previous order passed by the high court, which directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to demolish the top three floors of the building over violations of height norms.

On August 10, the high court had directed the civic body to demolish the ‘extra floors’ of the building developed by SAILEE Developers Pvt Ltd, as it exceeded the permissible height limit of 13.9m set by the DGCA rules.

The 24.7m high-building had also been constructed close to the airport runway and thus, posed a security threat.

On Wednesday, the developers argued that the demolition order be stayed as they had not flouted the rules intentionally and that the ’mistake’ had happened as they were “not aware of whether to calculate the height from the main sea level or the runway level.”

The court, however, refused to accept these arguments and said the developers had misrepresented facts before the authorities and had thus, managed to get the approvals for construction of the building.

“Zero tolerance must be adopted for such constructions near the airport. You [developer] should have demolished the extra floors on your own after learning that it violated the height regulations,” Justice Kanade said.

The high court is likely to take up the matter for further hearing on September 20.