Madras High Court imposes costs on Chennai township residents for preventing builder from constructing towers on land originally meant for clubhouse

The Madras High Court has imposed costs of ₹1,19,500 on 239 residents of the House of Hiranandani (HoH), a township being developed in phases on 118.37 acres in Egattur near Chennai, for having suppressed certain facts to obtain an interim order on March 10 this year, preventing the builder from constructing two residential towers in an area originally earmarked for the construction of a second club house.

The Madras High Court has imposed costs of ₹1,19,500 on 239 residents of the House of Hiranandani (HoH), a township being developed in phases on 118.37 acres in Egattur near Chennai, for having suppressed certain facts to obtain an interim order on March 10 this year, preventing the builder from constructing two residential towers in an area originally earmarked for the construction of a second club house.

Justice R.M.T. Teekaa Raman said the builder, Hiranandani Developers Private Limited, had obtained revised approval from the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) in 2020 for the construction of the two towers named Octavius and Veronica, each with 18 floors apart from stilt and two basements, on a piece of land where a clubhouse measuring 10,413.50 square metres had been planned earlier for phase II of the project.

The judge said the builder had begun constructing the two towers after deciding to convert an adjacent sports hall, originally planned on 923.53 square metres, into a club house-cum-sports hall by constructing one more floor over the hall and increasing the total built up area to 1,687.47 square metres. “This factual position appears to have been suppressed by the petitioner (Chennai Hiranandani Residents Welfare Association),” he wrote.

Justice Raman also said the petitioner association wanted to arm-twist the builder by seeking free memberships to the club house that had already been built in phase I of the project and when that did not fructify, it filed the present writ petition challenging the DTCP approval for the revised plan. Since there were 239 members in the association, the judge directed each of them to pay ₹500 to the builder for having stalled the construction of the twin towers since March this year.

The judge also pointed out that every flat owner in the township had given specific consent, right at the time of purchasing the flats, that the builder would be entitled to get the township development plan revised as and when required. Therefore, it was not right on the part of the petitioner association to now contend that the builder must obtain consent once again from the existing residents to construct residential towers in a place originally earmarked for clubhouse, he said.

On the petitioner association’s contention that construction of two more high-rise residential towers on an area meant for club house would prevent free flow of air and availability of sunlight to the existing towers in phase II of the project, the judge said, those issues related to deficiency, if any, in provision of amenities could be raised only before the Tamil Nadu Real Estate Regulatory Authority and not before the High Court by way of a writ petition.