AWHO told to deposit advance rent to be paid to apartment owners in escrow account by September 3

The district committee constituted with the Ernakulam District Collector as convener to oversee the proposed demolition and reconstruction of the twin towers of Chander Kunj Army apartments has directed the Army Welfare Housing Organisation (AWHO) to deposit six months’ advance rent to be paid to the apartment owners in an escrow account by Wednesday (September 3).

The apartment owners, in turn, have been asked to evacuate within a week of receipt of the rent. Subsequently, the apartments will be taken over by the Kanayannur tahsildar for demolition. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the committee held on Tuesday (September 2).

Last month, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court had, in an interim order, directed the AWHO to deposit the advance rent by September 3. The writ appeal was filed by the Apartment Owners Association and a few owners against the February 3 verdict by a Single Bench of the court, ordering the demolition and reconstruction of the twin towers on the grounds of serious structural problems, and a bunch of review petitions thereof.

The interim order had said that the determination/fixation of rent shall be subject to the outcome of the writ petition before the Single Bench, which had increased the rent to be paid to the owners by the AWHO till the handing over of the new units, from ₹21,000 and ₹23,000 as originally proposed in the February 3 verdict, to ₹30,000 and ₹35,000 to the owners of flats in B and C towers respectively.

The committee shared the escrow account details with the AWHO representative at the meeting. It will be disbursed to owners by the District Collector’s office. The advance rent will be paid to 152 out of the 208 apartment owners who have resided in their apartments at some point in time. In their writ appeal before the Division Bench, the owners had also demanded that all owners be made eligible for rent for the course of demolition and reconstruction.

The meeting also decided to launch the tender formalities for the selection of a project management consultant and an agency for demolition alongside. The AWHO has also been asked to initiate steps for securing various clearances. It was also decided that detailed discussions/planning would be done on the habitability of Tower A and testing once the demolition expert was onboarded.