The Bombay High Court (HC) has ordered Omkar Realtors and Developers to remove iron struts and make the demolished luxury Worli tower habitable within a week.

S P Kapadia and his wife had bought the 65th-floor apartment for Rs 23 crore in 2015 and completed its payment in 2017. The HC had directed the developers to finish three private lifts for the flat in Tower A in three months.

Justice Girish Kulkarni said that the HC was confronted with an utmost dishonest and adamant stand of the developer, and illegal not to hand over clear possession of the petitioner's flat without any obstacles so that it could be occupied.

The Kapadias appealed the HC last year against the builder. Senior counsel Haresh Jagtiani with Advocate Suprabh Jain highlighted that the apartment was part of a special series of private lifts with common lifts. The building received Occupancy Certificate (OC) by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) up to the 69th floor. Flat buyers till the 64th floor have full-fledged possession, but the Kapadias' flats possession has been coupled with hurdles and obstructions.

Jagtiani said that the construction stalled in the past four years after a stop-work notice was issued by the SRA under the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The HC asked ED and SRA to consider if the construction of internal lifts could be permitted. The internal lift works were allowed, and an expert report sought by the HC said private lifts could be made functional till the 69th floor. But the developer appeared to make special lifts operational after constructing two and a half floors.

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