In a major relief to 18 distressed home buyers of a Santacruz-based project, Silver Sunshine, Justice R I Chagla of the Bombay High Court, in a recent order, allowed the appointment of third party professionals – including a construction contractor and architect required for carrying out and completing the construction of the building which was abandoned by the developer in 2010.
Moreover, Justice Chagla has also asked the Court Receiver to file an interim report on or before January 17, 2022, with regards to the progress made in construction of the unoccupied flats.
The 18 home buyers had purchased flats in a MHADA-leased property redevelopment project. Silvex Developers had initiated redevelopment of the MHADA leased property in 2004 after obtaining the required permissions. The 18 original tenants were to be rehabilitated and the developer sold the surplus houses to these aggrieved home buyers. A few were even given possession of their houses.
However, in 2010 the developer stopped construction and abandoned the project. Additionally, he has been absconding since 2016, said advocate Mahesh L Kukreja who represented the home buyers.
“Two FIR's have also been filed and a complaint was lodged with the Economic Offence Wing against the developer, following which a chargesheet was also filed. Moreover, the society named Ram Krishna Nagar, under which the redevelopment was carried out later, in 2016, terminated the Development Agreement with the developer,” said Kukreja.
According to the advocate, as it was a redevelopment project and the society had terminated the development agreement, the said developer has no role in the project work. “Though the original tenants handed over the possession of their homes and possession was partly given to surplus home buyers, the remaining 18 home buyers were left at the developer's mercy. They were clueless about what will happen next. Following which they moved the High Court for relief. And now this order has given much needed relief to them,” he said.
