The Kerala High Court has ordered the Army Welfare Housing Organisation (AWHO) and the Residents Welfare Association (RWA) to take possession of flats in Towers B and C of Chander Kunj Army Tower at Vyttila within two weeks and hand them over to Edifice Engineering, the company appointed to demolish the buildings.
The interim direction was issued by a bench led by Justice P V Kunhikrishnan while hearing AWHO’s petition challenging notices issued by the Ernakulam district collector. The notices directed AWHO to take possession of the flats from their owners by executing a certificate or undertaking.
The court said the legality of the collector’s notices could be examined later. For the immediate purpose of expediting the demolition, however, it directed AWHO and the RWA to take possession of the flats and transfer them to Edifice Engineering. The company has been awarded the contract to carry out the demolition of the two towers.
The direction followed submissions by Additional Advocate General P A Mohammed Shah, who highlighted the urgency of demolishing the buildings without delay. The court also clarified that the question of whether the certificates or undertakings must be submitted could be decided finally when the petition is disposed of.
Chander Kunj Army Tower was completed in July 2018 and consists of three towers with 264 flats. Most of the flats were handed over to owners by the end of that year. Concerns over the structural stability of Towers B and C emerged in November 2019 after reports of seepage and water leakage.
The case places the court-directed takeover of individual flats at the centre of the demolition process. The latest order is intended to allow the demolition contractor to obtain access to the buildings while the legal challenge to the collector’s notices remains pending.
The High Court had ordered the demolition and reconstruction of Towers B and C on February 3, 2025. The latest interim order now sets a two-week period for AWHO and the RWA to complete the possession and handover process. Further legal questions concerning the collector’s notices and the certificates or undertakings will be considered when the petition is finally decided.
