TDI Mall all set for launch

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 29

All is set for the opening of the TDI Mall, the first mall in Sector 17, the commercial centre of the city.

With the UT Estate Office in the process of implementing the orders of the court of the UT Chief Administrator (CA)-cum-Finance Secretary to regularise the multiplex, stakeholders are hopeful that the mall will be opened before December 31.

Officials said the case has been put up for approval to the Assistant Estate Officer (AEO) before the Estate Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner issues the occupation certificate for starting operations at the mall. The opening of the mall would gel with the UT Administration’s plan to revitalise Sector 17, especially near the General Post Office building.

Amit Batra, a senior official of the TDI Group, said they plan to start the mall soon after formally getting orders from the Estate Office. The promoters have planned to first start the multiplex section that has three auditoriums.

Last month, the quasi-judicial court of Sarvjit Singh, the CA-cum-Finance Secretary, after hearing an appeal filed by the promoter of the multiplex, had passed orders to reglarise the same. The CA had observed that similar deviations in the external finish of Taj GVK Hotels and Hotel James Plaza, as pointed out in the TDI Mall, had been regularised. The contention of the Estate Office to levy compounding fee was dismissed.

Regarding the deviation of keeping generators and cooling tower on single story zone and the height of floor of passage to the adjoining showroom being more than the prescribed limit, the CA stated that it would be decided once the case of penalty being charged under the Building Rules 2007 was decided by the Centre.

For the last seven years, the UT had held up the completion certificate on different counts - building violation, restoring façade as per the heritage guidelines and seeking environment clearances.

Building violation penalty

Sources said in the case of charging penalty on building violation/misuse from the date of being show-caused, of the total amount of Rs 36 crore, the penalty of around Rs 30 crore as compounding fee has not been found maintainable by the court of CA. The decision regarding the amount of Rs 6 crore as penalty of building violation has been kept pending.