MUMBAI: On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court nullified the state’s acquisition of a prime private land in Goregaon East, which had been designated as slum land under the Slum Act. The court highlighted the obligations imposed on state officials and the CEO of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) before exercising the drastic powers under Section 14 of the Slum Act.
Justices Girish Kulkarni and Aarti Sathe acknowledged a plea from NESCO, the private property owner, to overturn the acquisition, deeming it arbitrary and unlawful. They stated, “Such powers should not be invoked at the mercy of unscrupulous parties, disregarding the legal rights of private landowners, especially when the land, inundated by slums, remains privately owned.” The state is required to thoughtfully consider the matter and provide justifications rather than mechanically accepting the CEO’s report, invoking previous rulings that reinforced private landowners’ constitutional rights.
The hutments on the property had been designated as a ‘Slum Rehabilitation Area’ under the Slum Act. The petitioner contended that the owner’s preferential rights to redevelop and rehabilitate the slum tenements should have been acknowledged. The petitioner argued that the state government’s intention to disregard these rights based on a slum dwellers’ society’s proposal was improper.
The lawyer representing the slum society indicated that the society had been misled by a developer, which led to their request for state acquisition of the land in 2009. The High Court noted that the slum society has now fully aligned with the landlord’s position. Furthermore, the SRA’s counsel did not challenge the assertion that the essential requirements for acquisition were not met, pointing out that the petitioner was not given any opportunity to redevelop the land, which recognized their preferential rights.
