There’s bad news for addresses plotting vertical growth in the Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) area. For, the apex court has ruled that additional floors can no longer be constructed against the local civic rules.

The Supreme Court has upheld the HMC’s supremacy in the matter and quashed a decision of the division bench of Calcutta High Court, sanctioning construction of three additional floors by Ganges Ropes Co. Ltd.

Following an appeal by the HMC, the apex court said any sanction to construct additional floors should not be in violation of the civic body’s amended building rules and “the resolution of the Corporation”, which restricts heights of buildings on GT Road.

In another development on Tuesday, Calcutta High Court directed the HMC authorities to demolish five floors of an eight-storey building.

Justice Barin Ghosh, in his order, asked Howrah mayor Gopal Mukherjee to take necessary steps to demolish five floors of the building immediately.

In Delhi, Justice Shivraj V. Patil and Justice D.M. Dharmadhikar took a strong Howrah line in their judgment dated December 19: “In the matter of sanction of buildings for construction and restricting their height, the paramount consideration is public interest and convenience, and not the interest of a particular person or party.”

The apex court said the high court’s sanction granted “for construction of additional floors is clearly in violation of the amended building rules and the resolution of the Corporation”.

The apex court restored the order of a single-judge bench of the high court, as it was “right in rejecting the prayer of the respondent company in public interest and the division bench of the high court committed an error in directing grant of sanction for further construction above four floors”.

This court, in its discretionary jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution, cannot support the impugned order, the bench added.

Building rules were amended by the state and the HMC can have no bona fide or mala fide hand in it, the apex court said, adding that “after the amended building rules were notified, the Corporation, on relevant ground of limited resources for civic amenities in a congested city like Howrah, could legally impose legitimate restrictions on the height of buildings”.