CHENNAI: Madras high court has appointed a two-member committee comprising retired judges of the court to find alternative accommodations for owners of Jain’s Westminster apartments, which will be demolished due to poor quality of construction.
“The committee will have retired judges K N Basha and K Kannan to supervise the evacuation of the occupants and provide alternative accommodation,” a division bench of justice S S Sundar and justice N Senthilkumar said on Tuesday.
The committee is required to consider the representation of the individual flat owners for arranging accommodation. It shall, as far as possible, try to find alternative accommodation for the flat owners with equal space and amenities, the bench said. The court added that alternative accommodation shall be provided within a five km radius of the existing flats or occupants may be given the option to pick the location.
The committee has been directed to complete the process within three months.
Earlier, on March 12, the court directed Jain Housing and Construction Limited to make a ‘full disclosure’ of its net worth and financials to demonstrate that it had the resources to rebuild three 17-storey apartments at Saligramam. The apartment buildings were found to be unsafe for living by an expert committee from IIT-Madras.
Though the company agreed to demolish and rebuild all the three residential apartments, Jains Westminster Owners Welfare Association moved high court seeking direction to the builder to deposit 106 crore towards rental accommodation for the flat owners till the buildings are reconstructed.
They further wanted the builder to demonstrate financial ability to reconstruct the apartment complex. They also opposed the decision of the builder to add a few more floors to the complex and increase the number of units as it would affect the Undivided Share (UDS) of the existing owners.
The Supreme Court has directed five district collectors of Tamil Nadu to appear before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering probe related to alleged illegal sand mining.
