Legal row over 'community centre'

Rati Chaudhary / TNN / Nov 6, 2005, 03:51 IST

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While builders are calling it a community centre, family who resides in the house next door alleges that it is a club.

NEW DELHI: A high-profile spat is developing over a building under construction in Maharani Bagh. While the builders are calling it a community centre, the family who resides in the house next door alleges that it is actually a club, and have gone to court to stop its construction.
On October 7, the Delhi High Court ordered that no activity should commence from the building under construction, or at the site, till further instruction.
The community centre's brochure �� a copy of which is with TOI �� states that the Maharani Bagh Community Centre �� coming up at 1, Central Avenue with a budget of about Rs 2 crore �� will have a reading room, gym, lounge, restaurant, yoga centre, guest rooms, swimming pool and an auditorium with a seating capacity of 250.
The Maharani Bagh cooperative society is making the building with the support of the Resident Welfare Association. The cooperative society's president is well-known cardio surgeon Dr Naresh Trehan. When TOI contacted Dr Trehan about the case, he said, "I don't know the exact details.

You should talk to Vidya Bhen Shah, who is the right person to talk to." Shah, member of the managing committee and ex-president of the cooperative society, said she had no clue about any such petition and any High Court order.
TOI has a copy of the petition, which was filed on October 4 by Malvika Rajkotia, senior advocate on behalf of the petitioner.
According to the petition," From the sanctioned plans for construction, it is apparent that while the construction as sanctioned is for a community hall, what is being built as per the plan is eight community halls consisting of a basement, three floors and a terrace.

The use of each hall has not been designated other than being called a community hall. Only toilets and kitchens have been clearly marked. The brochure advertising this project alongwith letters to the residents issued by Dr Trehan, however, specifies the purposes of the various community halls."
The petition further states, "A community hall, according to the master plan, is defined as a hall for the meeting place of the community with provision for a creche, reading room and a snack stall. The proposed project however, is in fact clearly a club being built in the guise of a Community Hall."
The brochure also invites for membership subscriptions, at an annual fee of Rs 2.5 lakh each, from residents of Maharani Bagh and neighbouring areas. The petition says inviting 'outsiders' violates the concept of a community hall.
The petitioner has also charged that the Maharani Bagh Cooperative Housing Society has been formed for the limited purpose of acquiring land for construction of houses, supplying building material, advancing loans for building houses for residential purposes and other acts pursuant to achieve the above objects.
Therefore, the proposed project is not the mandate of the cooperative housing society.

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