Terming the insistence on a Navy NOC at the near completion stage “arbitrary” and “illegal”, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday quashed the October 2025 stop-work notice and the denial of Occupation Certificates for two redeveloped buildings near INS Trata in Worli.

The HC noted that the structures lay beyond the prescribed security radius and were legally sanctioned.

The authorities halted construction, claiming the developer had not submitted a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Navy, which they said was a pre-condition for structures within the prescribed distance of defence installations.

The bench observed demand for obtaining an NOC at final stage of construction was “arbitrary” and “realistic steps be taken at the right time” by authorities in respect of legal constructions.

The construction of the building which is rehabilitating 72 members of Prabhadevi Indraprastha Co-op. Housing Society is complete, and the other building, having sale component flats, is at the final stage of completion.

The HC held that the respondent was “under obligation to grant OC” and “it could not issue the impugned stop-work notice” as the buildings were situated beyond the prescribed limits.

Senior advocate Ravi Kadam for the petitioner-developer Techno Freshworld LLP argued that Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) had illegally issued the stop-work notice on a request made by the Naval authorities.

The petitioner-developer told the HC that society members had executed a redevelopment agreement in 2022 for an old and dilapidated “Building No. 41” housing industrial workers, situated on larger “Adarsh Nagar” land.

The Union Ministry of Defence (MoD) and its authorities, however, claimed the notice was rightly issued as the redevelopment was progressing without an NOC, which was mandatory for any

multi-storied construction in the vicinity of INS Trata.

In its 95-page judgment, a bench of Justices Girish S Kulkarni and Aarti A Sathe observed that issues related to insistence on an NOC from defence authorities require “an appropriate non-arbitrary, fair and reasonable approach by the concerned authorities strictly as per the requirement of law.”

The HC said if the MoD’s plea over security concerns and threat perception had any real basis, all steps under law were required to be taken at the “very beginning” of the construction activity, while in the present case construction had substantially progressed as per sanctioned plans and approvals by planning authorities.

Slamming the “casual approach” of the Defence authorities, the bench said their lack of control over civil areas claim was “no answer to any realistic threat/security perception.”

The court added the right to property “cannot be infringed” and authorities should adopt “realistic and legally sustainable approach”.

The prescribed distance norms, as per the HC, vary from time to time with different internal circulars issued under the MoD, which are “being foisted on the Planning Authority operating under the State law.”

Allowing the plea, the court observed larger number of buildings already exist in the vicinity of INS Trata and while some are granted NOC, some remained “undisturbed” without NOC, therefore, NOC requirement cannot be “selectively insisted or foisted” by authorities.