Mohta’s company in dock as HC orders demolition
The Statesman | 1 September 2025The court has further directed that officials of the promoter and engineers/officials of the New Kolkata Development Authority who connived in the fraud be proceeded against, both departmentally and under criminal laws. Sushil Mohta is the Managing Director of Elita Garden Vista Private Limited which promoted the complex while Prakash Bachhawat is a Whole Time Director. The judgment came on a petition filed by some of the original owners of flats in the Elita Garden Vista complex.
Holding that the promoters had obtained permission to construct the tower through fraud, corruption and muscle power, a bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha and Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta ordered them to demolish the illegal structure within two months, during which occupants were given a month to remove their effects. Should the promoters fail to do so, the court has directed the New Kolkata Development Authority to carry out the demolition at the cost of the promoters. The court ordered the promoters to refund the sums paid by purchasers with 7 per cent interest. The Court also rejected a prayer made by Mr Abhrajit Mitra, Senior Advocate, appearing for the promoter, to stay operation of its judgment.
In a comprehensive, 94-page judgment written by Justice Mantha, the Court rejected virtually all the prayers made by the promoters and held that a revised sanction plan given in 2015 for construction of the tower was obtained by fraud and suppression of facts. The court noted: “Various other provisions of the NKDA Act have been violated by the promoter, consequent upon violations of the WB Apartment Ownership Act and WB Promoters Act.
The said revised plan dated 20 August 2015 is therefore illegal and is liable to be revoked/cancelled under Section 81 of the NKDA Act and is hereby cancelled.” Sanction for Elita Garden Vista was initially obtained by its original promoter, Keppel Magus Private Limited, in 2007 and envisaged construction of 15 towers of 23 floors each, comprising 1278 flats, 1688 car parking spaces and several other facilities.
The undivided share of each flat owner was 0.1 per cent of the land and common areas. Title of the flats was conveyed along with undivided share in land and common areas to buyers in 2010, and the registration process was completed in 2012. In 2014, the original promoter sold its rights to Elita Garden Vista Private Limited, a consortium of city builders led by Sushil Mohta, who is also President of Credai West Bengal, affiliated to the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India. The other builders involved in Elita are Pradeep Sureka of the Sureka group and Prakash Bachhawat of the JB Group.
The judgment records: “Without the knowledge or consent or concurrence of the existing land and flat owners, the new promoter… on 20th August 2015 applied for and obtained a revised sanction plan for construction of an additional tower comprising 26 floors…in a part and portion of an open landscape area. Sanction was also obtained for the construction of a new commercial complex within the said building complex.” The original flat owners only came to know of the revised sanction plan in 2017, when they learnt that the complex now had 16 towers and 1,588 flats, while their proportionate share of the land and common areas had been reduced to 0.08 per cent.
“The pathways came to be reduced by 600 sq. m. and the landscape and open areas consequently came to be substantially reduced.” On 19 April and 20 May 2018, the original flat owners wrote to NKDA asking for cancellation of the revised sanction plan and stoppage of construction work. However, both NKDA and the promoter refused to act, forcing the aggrieved owners to move the High Court.
While a single bench of the High Court initially found that the appellants had made out a prima facie case regarding the illegality of the revised sanction plan issued by the NKDA dated 20 August 2015, as well as the illegality of the construction of the 16th tower in the apartment complex, it dismissed the writ petition, which forced the flat owners to prefer a Letters Patent Appeal before the Division Bench.
Discussing the conduct of the promoter, the Division Bench has noted that it acted both “fraudulently and illegally” and “clearly defrauded the owners of the 15 towers as well as those of the 16th tower.” It held that the promoter had “illegally and surreptitiously” obtained sanction of the modified plan for construction of the 16th power. The Court held that NKDA failed to discharge its statutory duties despite specific notice of the illegality committed by the promoter.
