Slum Land – Compulsory Acquisition Vs preferential right of owner for redevelopment
In the landmark judgment of exhaustive 180 pages, the Bombay High Court has given detailed analysis facts of the record, chequered history and actions taken by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority on the interplay of Sections 13 and 14 of the Maharashtra Slum Act to uphold the preferential right of the owner to redevelop its slum land.
It all started with rejection of objections of the petitioner not to declare the land as slum rehabilitation area under Section 3C(1) of the Slum Act, declaration of slum area on 31.12.2020 during pandemic, the issuance of impugned notice dated 29.10.2021 under Section 14(1) of the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971, for acquisition of slum land of the petitioner’s Trust for redevelopment at Bandra and passing the Order dated 29.3.2022 for compulsory acquisition.
Rejection of the objection of the petitioner to the compulsory acquisition of its land on the ground that the petitioner did not submit a proposal to redevelop land within prescribed period of 120 days of issuance of section 3C notice.
Right of the owner of the slum land cannot be defeated or taken away or denied through compulsory acquisition to give a windfall of profit to the private developer of the proposed society of slum dwellers.
Composite redevelopment of the land of the petitioner with the slum land – permissible
One of two important questions framed by the High Court for determination was – Whether the SRA can refuse to grant opportunity to the petitioner-owner to redevelop its own land?
The object and intention of Section 14 cannot merely be the intention of a slum society that the land be acquired as desired by the slum society. If such meaning is to be attributed to Section 14, the provision would be rendered draconian, bringing horrendous consequences not imagined by the legislature and extraneous to the provision.
In para 100 of the judgment, it was observed – “To our mind, it is also unconscionable that an owner of the land knocking the doors of the SRA that it intends to undertake redevelopment is shown the exit door by issuing a notice under Section 14(1) of the Slum Act.
The slum dwellers, merely by forming a society, cannot assert that their rights are higher than the rights of the owners of the land and cannot be elevated higher to control rights of the owner. The acquisition of the land for rehabilitation of slum dwellers can also never be on a pedestal and/or of a status of an acquisition of the land for public purposes in relation to public project to be undertaken by the State in exercise of its powers of eminent domain.
Judgment dated 11.6.2024 of the Bombay High Court in Writ Petition No.1212 of 2022 of Bishop John Rodrigues Vs. State of Maharashtra and others
