The civic standing committee passed the proposal put forward by the municipal commissioner for an urgent agenda. "We were already in search of some land to meet our budget proposal commitment of constructing around half-a-dozen multi-layer parking lots in various areas of the city and this collapse gave us an opportunity to acquire this land for the same," said deputy municipal commissioner U C Padia at the media briefing held after the meeting.

According to Municipal Commissioner I P Gautam, who was also present at the committee meeting, such acquisition is possible under Section 78 of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act. "Once the proposal is through, we will send a request to the state government through the Urban Development Department, to facilitate the proposed acquisition and hand over of the land to the AMC," he said.

The ownership of the land in question, bearing revenue survey numbers 1452 to 1466 is already under cloud thanks to a doubtful lease deed. The Congress has opposed the move saying that on the one hand the AMC had approved building plans of the applicant party and on the other, it is "now planning to acquire the same, as though they were waiting for the building to fall".