RULES FLOUTED? On what basis was 5.5 FSI granted to Sea Rock: High court

Mumbai: Permissions granted to commence construction for a super-luxury hotel on the plot where Sea Rock hotel stood at Bandra Bandstand, including 5.5FSI,hascomeunder thescanner of theBombayhighcourt.A division bench of Justice SharadBobade andJusticeMridula Bhatkar on Thursday posed tough questions to authorities liketheBMC,collector,MCZMA and asked them to respond to allegations in a PIL which alleged that ruleswereflouted. 

    "On what basis has 5.5 FSI been sanctioned and commencement certificate (CC) granted in 2009? Have the authorities verified if the permissions arein consonancewiththe CRZ rules? What action has been taken (on the complaints lodged before MCZMA and MoEF)," saidthejudges. 
    Hearing the PIL filed by lawyer and activist Sonia Sood, the court asked the authorities to address the allegations raised: whether the commencement certificate granted by the BMC in 2009 was as per the CRZ rules; on what basis was additional construction rights in the form of FSI to the tune of 5.5 granted instead of 2.5; whether there was any construction on thesea; if both the development control regulations of 1967 and 1991 were applicable to the project. The MCZMA has been asked to file status report of the proceedings going on with regard to the complaintsfiled againstthe project. The collector has further been asked to file an affidavit on the petitioner's allegation that stamp duty of around Rs 1,400 crore was still to be paid on the plotwhichhadseen four owners. 
    Janak Dwarakadas, counsel for Elel Hotels and Investments Pvt Ltd, the holding company of Sea Rock, told the court that the CCwas grantedfor 2.5FSI. Since the MoEF clearance for 5.5 FSI was awaited, no construction wasbeing carriedout atthesite, the advocate assuredthecourt. 
    The 440-room Sea Rock was builtfour decades agowithFSIof 1. The hotel was one of the spots of the 1993 blasts, following which it was shut. A proposal to redevelop it was put before then CM Vilasrao Deshmukh, who granted it FSI of 2.5. His successor, Ashok Chavan, hiked the FSIto5.5.TheTaj group, a stakeholder in the project, planstobuild a 40-storey hotelon the plot.