Palais Royale: A saga of delays, court cases

Sordid tales of dream homes turning into nightmares have been legion in India, but this one takes the cake simply because of the scale.

- Nehal Chaliawala & Neha Joshi

A spectacular 84 storeys—the most of any residential building in India—with apartments ranging between 4,800 sq. ft and 45,000 sq. ft, located in the tony Worli area of India's financial capital Mumbai, and with amenities rivalling five-star hotels, Palais Royale had everything needed to live up to its name, including a buyer list that featured the super-rich.

But the building, and the dreams of its buyers, are still work in progress 15 years after the ground was first broken. Mired in delays and embroiled in court cases with several buyers even today, the project missed yet another completion deadline in December 2024.

The deadline has been extended thrice under the project's new promoter, Pune-based Honest Shelters Pvt. Ltd (two extensions happened during the covid-19 pandemic). Even under original promoter Shree Ram Urban Infrastructure Ltd (SRUIL), the project was delayed by several years due to litigation with a non-profit organisation. The project received regulatory nod for construction in 2005 and several buyers had purchased apartments as early as in 2010.

Palais Royale has so far received occupation certificate (OC) for 53 floors—for ground floor plus 27 levels in August 2022, and another 26 levels in December 2024, as per reports. However, one homeowner told Mint that no apartments have been handed over yet.

"We think they will finally hand it over by the end of this year (2025) at least," said the homeowner, a fund manager who did not want to be identified as he was speaking about his private investments. A site visit by Mint showed construction continues at top levels of the building.

Honest Shelters and its advocates did not respond to requests for a comment.