Bombay High Court seeks details from AAI on permissions granted for buildings in excess of height limit near Navi Mumbai airport

The Bombay High Court on Thursday ordered the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to file an affidavit listing the number of permissions granted by the authority to construct buildings beyond the permissible height of 55 metres within the 20 kilometres radius of the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport..A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik was informed about a press release issued by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), which is the planning authority in Navi Mumbai, on July 22, 2022.In the press release, the CIDCO had commended the Ministry of Civil Aviation and other related authorities for allowing construction of buildings upto the height of 160 metres within the 20 km radius of the proposed airport."How is it possible? How can such a permission be given? We want to know from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and also the CIDCO as to how many buildings have been permitted to construct beyond the permissible height of 55 metres," Chief Justice Datta demanded..The bench while adjourning the matter ordered the petitioner in person Yashwant Shenoy to place on record the press release issued by CIDCO. A further directive was issued to the AAI and CIDCO to file an affidavit in response to the said contention..In the hearing today, the bench also pulled up Mumbai District Collector for failing to comply with its earlier orders wherein the authority was asked to demolish around 48 structures violating the height restrictions around the Mumbai International AirportThe Collector's affidavit said that only 8 of the 48 structures would be demolished for now and insisted that the DGCA should issue notice to the owners of 15 other offending structures.The Collector also flagged an illegal structure, which is a foot over bridge (FOB), but maintained that the same would not be demolished since the owner of the said structure isn't known. The bench was visibly irked by the stance of the Collector..During the hearing, the bench sought to know from its counsel if the Collector was aware of who constructed the FOB.After a negative response, CJ Datta said, "Your collector has no authority to check if notice is issued to the concerned authority or not? We are here to check that. Why is the collector insisting on issuing notice? Your job is to demolish it and not drag the matter like this. Now tell us when will you demolish it?""If there is resistance (to demolition drive of Collector) then come to us. As regards the 15 other structures, owners of which aren't known to you, stop insisting for a notice. That is for us to see and not you. Do your job (of complying with court orders)," the Chief Justice added..[Read live updates on hearing here]