MUMBAI, March 1 -- The Bombay High Court has allowed the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) to execute Permanent Alternate Accommodation Agreements with tenants of the fraud-hit Siddharth Nagar, also known as Patra Chawl, in Goregaon East. Mhada will now hand over rehabilitation tenements to those willing to occupy the flats. A division bench of justices GS Kulkarni and Aarti Sathe passed the order after taking note of a structural audit conducted by Dr Abhay Bambhole, project coordinator and professor in the structural engineering department at Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI). The audit concluded that the rehabilitation buildings are structurally sound, stable and fit for habitation. The court was hearing a petition filed by the Goregaon Siddharth Nagar Sahakari Griha Nirman Samstha, a cooperative housing society of tenants, complaining about the quality of construction of the rehab buildings. The petition cited two instances of plaster falling from newly constructed buildings and a malfunctioning lift in one of the rehab buildings. According to the society's counsel, advocate Samir Vaidya, a large portion of plaster from C building collapsed in April 2025. Another incident occurred on October 13, 2025, when plaster from the top floor of F building fell. Claiming that the incidents are serious in nature, the lawyer had called for a structural audit of all the rehabilitation buildings. Advocate Mahesh Londhe, representing the contractor, Relcon Infraprojects, acknowledged that the incidents were a matter of concern and assured the court that immediate steps would be taken to identify the causes and inspect all the buildings and certify them as safe and habitable. Mhada said the incidents were "a matter of grave concern as they raise serious questions regarding the quality of workmanship, supervision, and the materials used in the construction". Before the court's order, the housing authority had written to the builder stressing that residents' safety and structural integrity of the buildings were paramount. It had even directed a third-party audit, initially limited to the external plaster. During hearings in October 2025, Mhada's lawyer told the court that a comprehensive third-party structural audit of all rehabilitation buildings in Sector R-9 of Siddharth Nagar would be conducted through VJTI. The housing authority initiated the wider audit after the bench emphasised the need for a third party structural audit of the rehab buildings. The judges also noted that the lift in the 'L' wing, where one of the incidents occurred, had to be examined, and that inspections had to be carried out for lifts in all other rehab buildings....