Mumbai: HC directs BMC chief to take final decision on nod for proposed floating hotel

The Bombay High Court has directed the city civic chief to take a final decision within eight weeks on grant of permission for the construction of a floating hotel Floatel proposed two nautical miles away from the shoreline in south MumbaiA division bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and M W Chandwani in its judgement of January 23 quashed a May 2017 decision taken by a threemember committee refusing permission for the project noting it was part of the Marine Drive promenadeThe court was hearing a petition filed by Rashmi Developments Pvt Ltd challenging the committees decisionThe high court in its order said prima facie the floating hotel and its related infrastructure was not part of the Marine DriveAlso Read BMC is breaking things that arenrsquot broken and making life difficult for walkers across MumbaiThe matter is remanded back to the respondent 1 city civic body with a direction to the Commissioner of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation to take a decision first on whether he has exclusive jurisdiction in the matter the HC saidIf the commissioner finds that he has jurisdiction then he shall consider the petitioners application for grant of necessary permission in accordance with law and if required the commissioner may call for necessary NOCs from the authorities concerned it saidThe court said if the commissioner has no exclusive jurisdiction then he shall refer the petitioners application to the threemember committee once again for due consideration and appropriate recommendationThe committee comprising the chairman of the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee Mumbai Police commissioner and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC commissioner was formed in 2015 following an order from the HC to decide on any proposed construction at the Marine Drive promenadeIn 2018 the high court had upheld the committees decision following which the petitioner company approached the Supreme CourtThe apex court last year set aside the high courts 2018 order and directed it to consider the matter afreshThe petitioner company had proposed the project of Floatel floating hotel comprising four parts waiting area floating jetty parking area and the hotelThe floating hotel was going to be located in the deep sea about two nautical miles from the shoreline in south MumbaiThe petitioners contention was that none of these four parts of the project would be situated anywhere near or on the Marine Drive promenade and that they would be situated beyond a point from the end of the Marine DriveThe court in its order noted that prima facie none of the parts appear to be forming part of the Marine Drive promenadeIt said the parking area of the proposed project comprising about 5000 square metres belongs to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority MMRDA and the said land has been already allotted to the petitioner companyThe BMC commissioner would have to first see if he has exclusive jurisdiction to decide the petitioners application for grant of No Objection Certificate NOC or not the HC saidIf he decides that he has such jurisdiction in the matter he would have to go ahead to consider the application of the petitioner on its own merits However if the commissioner comes to the conclusion that he has no exclusive jurisdiction in the matter he would have to act upon the recommendation of the threemember committee the court saidIn that case the commissioner would have to once again refer the matter to the committee for its consideration and appropriate recommendations it saidRecording of findings on the question of jurisdiction is important for the reason that it goes to the root of the whole dispute the HC saidThe bench directed the civic body chief to take a final decision within a period of eight weeksThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever