MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday permitted repair work at Mehta Mahal, a 60-year-old commercial building near Opera House in south Mumbai, to continue until March 15, while making it clear that a structural inspection would be conducted after the repairs are completed.
The order comes amid a prolonged dispute over the building’s structural stability and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s decision to issue fresh notices and seek a renewed reference to its Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).
Mehta Mahal, a 13-storey commercial building in Charni Road housing offices and business establishments, was inspected in 2021 by a TAC constituted by the civic body. The committee categorised the structure as ‘C2B’, indicating that while repairs were necessary, evacuation was not required.
However, Drishti Hospitality Company Pvt Ltd, which owns part of the property, relied on a subsequent report by Indian Institute of Technology Bombay that allegedly classified the building as ‘C1’ — a category reserved for structures that require evacuation and demolition.
Acting on the IIT-B report, the BMC directed the society to urgently undertake repairs. Given the building’s location in a densely populated commercial hub of south Mumbai, the issue soon escalated into litigation involving the owners, occupants and the civic body.
In 2023, Drishti Hospitality approached the high court, contending that the building was in a dangerous condition and seeking directions for a fresh structural audit and a renewed TAC reference. In September 2023, the court observed that it was “difficult to see how a repair permission granted by the BMC on the basis of a TAC report can now be scuttled or short-circuited by producing yet another report and demanding a fresh reference to the TAC”.
By 2024, the Mehta Mahal Commercial Cooperative Premises Society informed the court that nearly 70% of the repair work had been completed and maintained that demolition was unwarranted.
Despite this, in April 2024, the BMC reclassified the building as ‘C1’ and listed it on its website as a structure requiring evacuation and demolition. The legal tussle continued, with Drishti Hospitality moving the Supreme Court, alleging that the civic body had not apprised the high court of the revised classification. While disposing of the petition in May this year, the apex court directed the high court to expedite the hearing.
The society subsequently challenged fresh notices issued by the BMC before the high court.
On Monday, counsel for Mehta Mahal told a division bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Abhay J Mantri that 95% of the repair work had been completed. He argued that once repair permission had been granted on the basis of the C2B categorisation and work had progressed accordingly, subsequent notices were unwarranted.
“Our grievance is that once the repair permission is granted, how can the authorities issue notices? On the basis of the C2 categorisation, we sought permission and started carrying out repairs. Only 5% of the work remains,” he submitted.
While clarifying that completion of repairs would not preclude a structural inspection, the bench allowed the remaining work to continue until March 15. The court further observed that if connected matters pending before it require additional time for hearing, the petitioner may avail of that period to continue the work.
It added that once the repairs are completed, IIT-B would be requested to assess whether the work has been carried out properly.