CHENNAI: A division bench of Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Jains Housing Constructions Limited to furnish the financial resources it has to demolish and reconstruct buildings at Jains Westminster at Saligramam and also the details of housing projects it has taken up so far.
The direction was given by the bench of justices SS Sundar and N Senthilkumar on the petitions filed by flat owners in the Jains Westminster Apartments seeking reconstruction of all flats and deposit of rental amount, along with the money required for reconstruction.
The Jains Westminster Flat Owners Association approached the court with the petition last year seeking reconstruction of all the three blocks having about 600 individual flats after portions of the ceiling collapsed and walls cracked in several areas of the flats. An expert team of the IIT-M had suggested reconstruction after finding poor construction quality and substandard materials.
Senior advocate S Prabakharan, one of the counsels for the petitioners, submitted that rebuilding the apartments without demolishing the entire structure, as suggested by the construction company, is not acceptable to the flat owners, instead, the flats should be reconstructed completely after demolition.
Pointing out that the company has deposited only `25 crore, he sought that the company to deposit `100 crore for rental charges and `275 crore for reconstruction of the entire habitat and wanted the evacuation be done immediately.
Referring to submissions made by the counsels for the flat owners and the builder, the bench said it is of the view that the builder should come out with a full disclosure of its net worth.
All the parties have unanimously agreed for appointment of a committee comprising two retired judges of the Madras High Court to identify the accommodation places suitable for flat owners when the demolition and reconstruction takes place, the bench said.
It added, the committee will undertake the task and assess the requirement of further money needed for all the flat owners to get decent accommodation commensurate with their ownership.
“The builder shall file an affidavit containing the financial requirements and the resources as to how they are going to mobilise funds for the project. It shall also disclose the projects, both ongoing and the past ones, which they have undertaken/completed throughout the country and the stages of such projects,” the bench said in the interim order. It directed the Jains Housing Constructions Limited to furnish the details by March 18.