Calcutta High Court has allowed the civic authorities to demolish the top seven floors of Nandaram market.

Justice Jayanta Biswas on Wednesday dismissed two petitions by Kocchar Plywood Pvt Ltd, the owner of the building, and the Nandaram Market Tenants and Traders’ Welfare Association.

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) can demolish the top seven floors of the market because these were constructed without permission from the civic body, the judge said.

The court directed the civic body to “conduct a survey of the building” and issue notices to the owner and tenants before starting the demolition.

In 1987, the Supreme Court had permitted the civic body to demolish 16 floors of the building — 6th to 21st — that had been illegally constructed. The CMC demolished only nine, from the 13th to 21st floors. The rest of the illegal floors could not be razed because of resistance from tenants.

After the 100-hour fire at Nandaram market in January, the CMC planned to demolish the illegal parts of the building but did not issue a notification. The owner and traders of the market moved court last month, seeking an order directing the CMC to set up a committee of experts to assess the stability of the building.

The petitioners also sought an order barring the civic body from demolishing any portion of the building.

The petitioners’ lawyers told the court on Wednesday that a senior civic inspector had surveyed the building in 1996 and described the structure as stable in his report.

“There should be a fresh assessment of the building’s stability before the decision to demolish it is taken,” said one of the lawyers.

Civic counsel Alok Ghosh argued that the court should not entertain the petitions because the apex court had already declared the seven floors of the building (6th to 12th) illegal.

In another case on Wednesday, the division bench of the court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Basant Genriwal, the owner of a market building on Jamunalal Bajaj Street where a fire broke out in January last year.

Officers of CR Avenue Fire Station had lodged an FIR against Genriwal alleging that he had been allowing the traders to do business in his building without taking any fire-prevention measures.