NEW DELHI: A month before the August 28 deadline for demolition of illegally constructed twin towers of Supertech in Noida, the Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, on Friday conveyed to the Supreme Court its inability to study the feasibility of the demolition plan because of suppression of vital information relating to structural issues.
CBRI chief scientist D P Kanungo informed a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and J B Pardiwala that neither IRP of Supertech nor Edifice, the chosen agency for carrying out the demolition work, has provided it with vital information relating to blast design, ground vibration estimate and mechanism to monitor it, assessment of post-demolition debris, dust cloud that would emanate and its impact on surrounding buildings as well as the nearby bird sanctuary, test blast inputs and structural audit of surrounding buildings.
"They are not presenting facts about several aspects of the demolition exercise in the progress report submitted to the court. We can evaluate the plan scientifically only when correct data on all aspects are provided to us. They are suppressing data claiming intellectual property rights. We have assured them that we will protect their IP rights. Yet, they are not giving the entire information," Kanungo said.
The bench ordered Noida, IRP of Supertech and Edifice to supply all requisite information to CBRI within four days of the latter writing to them, latest by August 5. It also directed all four to hold a meeting on August 6 to finalise the demolition plan and posted the matter for hearing on August 12. "We are categoric in our view that NOIDA, Edifice and IRP of Supertech must cooperate with CBRI and provide all relevant information," the bench said.
On August 31 last year, the top court had ordered the demolition of Supertech's twin 40-storey under construction towers within three months for violation of building norms in "collusion with NOIDA officials'', by ruling that the illegal construction had to be dealt with strictly to ensure compliance with the rule of law.
It had also directed that the entire amount paid by home buyers, who had booked flats in the twin towers, be refunded with 12% interest from the time of the booking and the RWA of Emerald Court project be paid Rs 2 crore for the harassment caused due to the construction of the twin towers, which blocked sunlight and fresh air to the existing residents of the housing project apart from taking up space meant for common facilities of the residents.
