Elel Hotels assures HC to not go ahead with construction

Elel Hotels and Investments, the owners of Five Star Hotel Sea Rock which is being redeveloped, today assured the Bombay High Court it would not carry out construction at the site until their proposal for FSI of 5.5 was decided by Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). Their Counsel Sharan Jagtiyani told a division bench that they have obtained commencement certificate for using Floor Space Index of 2.5 FSI but they will not carry out the construction until their proposal for 5.5 FSI was decided by MoEF. Floor Space Index (FSI) is the ratio of a building's total floor area to the size of the parcel of land upon which it is built. FSI equals to total covered area on all floors of all buildings on a certain plot divided by area of the plot. Thus, an FSI of 2.0 meant the total floor area of a building is two times the gross area of the plot on which it is constructed, as would be found in a multi- story building. Justices S J Vazifdar and M R Bhatkar told the company that even if their proposal was cleared by the Ministry, it should not go ahead with the construction until four weeks from the date of MoEF's decision. The restraint order on the construction was given as lawyer Sonia Raj Sood, who has filed a PIL alleging violation of Development Control Rules and environmental norms, raised apprehension that they might start construction no sooner they get clearance from MoEF, thus making her petition infructuous. Sood challenged grant of 5.5 FSI for re-development of the hotel contending that FSI was granted by using two Development Control Regulations (DCRs) for the city, which is not permissible under the law. She said that the authorities cannot apply both DCRs of 1967 and 1991 for one project. The PIL alleged that two successive chief ministers � Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan - had played a crucial role in granting excessive FSI for redevelopment of the hotel. It alleged that the then Chief Minister Deshmukh increased the FSI from 1 to 2.5 under DCR of 1967, while Chavan increased it by a further 3, to 5.5 under DCR of 1991. The PIL said that initially 440-room hotel was built four decades ago with FSI of 1. After the 1993 serial blasts, when the property was damaged, the hotel had been shut and a proposal to redevelop it was put before Deshmukh, who granted FSI of 2.5. In 2009 an amended redevelopment proposal was put up by the company and accordingly FSI of 5.5 was granted. According to the PIL, the hotel falls within a no- development Coastal Regulation Zone-1 area and has, therefore, sought that all permissions granted for the redevelopment work should be cancelled. However, Elel Hotels and Investments denied violation of rules.