CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the two-member committee of retired judges to nominate experts to oversee and monitor the stability of new buildings which will be constructed by demolishing the existing Jains Westminster apartments at Saligramam in Chennai.
“To ensure structural stability, the construction may require periodical monitoring by the experts who are nominated by the committee. Let the committee ensure inspection by one or more experts. It is open to the panel to engage enough structural engineers to supervise and monitor use of standard materials and ensure quality construction,” a division bench of Justices SS Sundar and N Senthilkumar said in an order on Monday.
The interim order was passed on a batch of petitions pertaining to the poor quality construction faced by the flats’. As per a majority decision of owners, it was decided to redevelop apartments with additional undivided share (UDS). Referring to the UDS, bench said Jains Housing Constructions “shall not sell any inch of land which had already been sold to the flat owners.”
However, it added, the builder is free to sell UDS in additional area brought in for redevelopment project. Pointing out that the building plan for the redevelopment is available with the committee, the bench asked the flat owners to submit authorisation or power of attorney in favour of the president of flat owners association or the builder so that the plan can be submitted to the authorities. The matter was adjourned to November 11.