View war

High court rejects call by two owners to prevent family from building three-storey house overlooking gorge. Now Dr Mahmoud Yousuf Motala and Ahmed Saeed Yousuf Paruk, who claimed Deven Chetty's R2.5-million mansion would obstruct their views of the Westville gorge and devalue their properties are planning to appeal against the Durban High Court judgement.

Judge Pillay dismissed their application and awarded Chetty and his wife, Nisha, legal costs, saying that the photographs supplied as evidence of the obstruction did not reflect the reality of the situation. The voluminous court file included town-planning laws, numerous photographs and the Chettys' building plans.

Chetty said Paruk and Motala had misconstrued the town-planning guide and added that the houses faced different directions. He said despite the fact that he and his wife had bent over backwards to accommodate Paruk and Motala, they had sought to delay the development, make them incur legal costs and "frustrate them in the hope that they would succumb to their demands". Chetty said the delays had cost up to R500,000, in addition to his family having been prejudiced from enjoying their home.

Article on the Sunday Times