Star hotel and Inorbit mall in Vashi is illegal, rules HC
Inorbit mall in Vashi is illegal
On Friday, The Bombay high court stated that CIDCo (City and Industrial Development Corporation) was irregularly allotted the 31,000sq m of land in Vashi. Star hotel and Inorbit mall. The bench of Justices A. S. Gadkari and Abhay Oak said that the developer could apply for CIDCo for regularization in this period.
Earlier, CIDCo had issued the showcase notice to the developer in current month, asking why the allotment should not be cancelled. The state-appointed D K Sankaran panel, which probed the matter, had also said in its report in 2005 that the allotment should be cancelled. The land in Vashi, on which Four Points hotel and Inorbit Mall stand, to K Raheja Corp and directed the developer to “hand back vacant possession” of the land to the planning agency in next six months.
While checking the lease agreement between developer and CIDCo, it’s clear that developer illegal directed that land be “restored”, and later the court rejected the developer’s plea on stay the order for 12 weeks. It is also said that since it has given six months’ time to developer to vacant the possession, now developer has a choice to go for appeal. The court stated, no third-party interest should be created during this period.
The Inorbit Mall and hotel were built in 2008-2009, a total of 11 plots opposite Navi Mumbai railway station, which comprised a total area of 31,000sq m, were allotted by CIDCo to K Raheja Corp in 2003. While in 2004, two PILs were filed in HC by stating that land had been given at cheap rates without issuing tenders and later the HC clubbed the PILs together as they were similar.
The counsel of V A Gangal, for the developer stated that “We will not depend on the mercy of CIDCo to regularize our land but will move the apex court, as my clients had followed all the rules to construct the shopping mall and hotel after a legal stay was earlier vacated. The total cost f construction was more than Rs 450 crore, currently, land involves 2,000 employees and 150 retailer shops it means more than 8,000 peoples livelihood will be affected. So it is also a human problem”.
The panel of D K Sankaran reported that CIDCo had suffered a loss of nearly Rs 50 crore because of this allotment which was “in gross violation of rules, CIDCo constitutional norms and policy. According to policy, after cancellation of allotment, the land “needs to be disposed of by inviting tenders and recommended the strong action against the then MD of CIDCo and other officers who dealt in the same file.
However, Gangal said that developer had paid Rs 31 crore for the land and it is more than the market price in 2003, and the IT land and later it had been converted in to commercial at that time as there had been no takers for it. Gangal further said that the Supreme Court had, in a similar case, and HC to take a ”pragmatic” view and directed, if there were any losses caused so it could be recovered from the developer.
CIDCo had terminated the services of one of GM in 2011 for allegedly showing undue favors to the developer and later he admitted in an affidavit in HC in September 2014, that the allotment was “arbitrary and illegal.” According to Thakur, This judgment is good and will send out a strong message to other developers. In past CIDCo had made the mistake of giving prime plots to a single builder at very low rates without tenders. In the first half of 2014, the HC had allowed activist Sandeep Thakur to intervene in the PIL because two original petitioners were absent. The court also appointed lawyer M S Karnik as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in the matter.
The bench of High Court, also appreciated the efforts of the intervener, Thakur, and the amicus curiae, Karnik. High Court also asked to CIDCo to pay Rs 50,000 to the original petitioner because of land irregularities.
