Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday strongly reprimanded the Navy for “intelligence failure” regarding the construction of a multi-storey building around INS Shikra, the Navy’s major air base in South Mumbai, and questioned how it went unnoticed.
A bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Abhay Mantri said that prima facie it was of the opinion that there was an intelligence lapse on the part of the Navy as it failed to notice the construction of a high-rise building near its establishment.
The bench was hearing a petition filed by the Commanding Officer of INS Shikra, seeking a direction to stop the project, citing significant security risks to the sensitive military installation.
The bench also questioned the Navy’s opposition to the construction of only this building, despite the presence of several other multi-storey residential buildings nearby, some of which are located at a “very short distance” from INS Shikra.
Lawyer RV Govilkar, representing the petitioner, argued that the other buildings were constructed before the Ministry of Defence issued a notification in 2011 making it mandatory to obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the construction of high-rise structures around defence establishments.
However, the High Court noted that the multi-storey building mentioned in the petition received the certificate to commence construction in March 2011, after which construction work began.
The bench said, “You (the Navy) are trying to hide serious lapses on your part… lapses on both intelligence and security aspects… The Navy sat in its office and only noticed this after the nearly 70-metre (19-storey) high building was completed by 2024.”
It stated that there was a prima facie lapse in intelligence gathering. The bench said, “We are surprised how the Navy failed to notice the construction of such a multi-story building for so many years? How did this building go unnoticed? This can only be due to the failure of the naval authorities in gathering intelligence.”
The bench stated that it could not allow its earlier order temporarily halting construction activity at the site to remain in place, as it was passed in view of security concerns ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Mumbai.
The High Court stated that since construction up to 53.07 meters (15 stories) is permitted in this area, the developer of the building would be required to construct above the permitted height at his own risk.
It stated that if the court ultimately concludes that a NOC is mandatory, it will order the demolition of any building above the permitted 53 meters.
The bench also warned of action against Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials if it found negligence or omission in issuing the construction commencement certificate without obtaining an NOC from the Navy. The high court fixed March 30 for the next hearing of the case.
