Karnataka High Court directs BDA Commissioner to prepare plan to demolish 15-floor ‘A’ block building of Platinum City apartment complex at Peenya

Court passes order as the developer of the project, Sheriff Constructions, has failed to demolish a few floors at the top of the block as per an assurance given to the court earlier

The High Court of Karnataka has directed the Commissioner of the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) to prepare a plan for the eviction and demolition of the entire ‘A’ block, having 15 floors, of the Platinum City apartment complex situated at Peenya, to bring the development of the residential group housing project in compliance with the applicable building bylaws.

The court passed the order as the developer of the project, M/s Sheriff Constructions, not only failed to demolish a few floors at the top of the block as per their assurance to the court earlier but also came up with a new excuse stating that beams and slabs of the 15th floor cannot be demolished, as such an action “would cause structural instability to the whole structure and its neighbouring structure.”

Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the interim order while hearing a petition filed back in 2013 by the developer seeking directions to the BDA to grant occupancy certificates for blocks ‘A’ to ‘G’ apartment complexes.

Undertaking to court

The developer this July gave an undertaking to the court that the floors at the top would be demolished to bring the height of the block within the permissible limit but failed to adhere to its undertaking.

Following this, the court directed the BDA to demolish the floors to reduce the height of the ‘A’ block building. But the BDA in September said that it did not receive any response to the tender for demolition works. This led the court on September 13 granting two months to the developer to complete the demolition of the floors.

Curiously, when the petition came up for hearing on November 25, the developer, who partially demolished a few structures on the floors, told the court that beams and slab of the 15th floor cannot be demolished as it would cause structural damage to the entire building.

‘Malafide conduct’

Terming the conduct of the developer as malafide to delay the proceedings, the court pointed out that the construction of the ‘A’ block itself was illegal and was required to be demolished, but the developer had made efforts to save other floors by reducing the height of the building so that the BDA could consider approving modified development plan.

“...Therefore, the entire building would need to be demolished. This demolition is required to be made on account of the petitioner, any losses caused to the purchasers would have to be borne by the petitioner as per the value of the apartments as on the date of demolition, as also taking into consideration the inconvenience caused to such purchasers/residents,” the court said while asking the BDA Commissioner to prepare plan for demolition by evicting the occupants.

Earlier proceedings

The court, during earlier proceedings between 2013 and 2024, noted that though the development plan of the project was approved in the late 1990s, there was no approved building plan for the project even though the BDA had received around ₹2.5 crore as fee from the developer in the absence of any demand for payment of such fee.

However, the developer possessed building plans “approved” by the BDA.

Keeping the interest of hundreds of people who had purchased the flats and occupied the buildings much before 2013 sans occupancy certificates, the court in 2019 directed the developer to submit revised development and building plans to be considered by the BDA as per the building bylaws.

Published - December 04, 2024 07:00 am IST