Jains Westminster evacuation | Madras High Court constitutes committee to find rental accommodation for flat owners

Madras High Court forms committee to evacuate unsafe flat owners in Chennai, ensuring temporary rental accommodation.

The Madras High Court on Tuesday constituted a committee comprising two of its retired judges to ensure smooth evacuation of 472 flat owners from three 17-storey towers of Jains Westminster apartments, at Saligramam in Chennai, that had become unsafe to reside due to chloride erosion, and accommodate them in rented premises until the reconstruction of the project.

Justices S.S. Sundar and N. Senthilkumar ordered that the committee comprising K.N. Basha and K. Kannan would work out the modalities utilising the initial deposit of ₹25 crore made by Jain Housing and Constructions Limited for being used to pay security deposit as well as monthly rental. They said the rental accommodation must be provided within a radius of 5 km as far as possible.

In so far as the flat owners who do not require any alternative accommodation, if they had kept their flats at Jain Westminster either vacant or rented them out, such persons could be paid a fair monthly rent as compensation after they vacate their tenants, the Bench said. They left it to the committee to decide the quantum of such fair rent and directed the builder to cooperate in the entire process.

The orders were passed after senior counsel A.L. Somayaji and S. Prabakaran, representing the flat owners, refused to accept the builder’s proposal for redevelopment of the project by constructing additional flats utilising the current increase in Floor Space Index and insisted that all three towers should only be reconstructed since chloride erosion had occurred only due to poor construction.

During the course of hearing, the judges too impressed upon the need for taking steps for quick evacuation of all families from the three high rise towers and demolishing them at the earliest. When Mr. Prabakaran pointed out that banks were forcing the flat owners to pre-close their home loans due to the proposed demolition, the judges asked him to implead those banks as respondents to the present case.

The judges also decided to take up the matter for further hearing on March 25.