Faramji Road case: VMC seeks nod to offer TDR for ‘amicable solution’

The proposal put forth before the Standing Committee states, “The Standing Committee had, on March 10, 2022, resolved to return land acquired from Maruti Developers (on Faramji Road) due to the inability to pay compensation, against which, the petitioner (land owner) had filed a special civil application in the Gujarat High Court. The HC had, on February 23, 2023, recommended that an ‘amicable solution’ should be brought about in the matter. Subsequently, meetings were held with the petitioner and the HC had passed an order on March 15. In the meetings held with the petitioner, the Standing Committee Chairman and Mayor (Nilesh Rathod), the option of offering Transferable Development Rights had been discussed… The standing committee is requested to approve the same as per the policy.”

The VMC is expected to file an affidavit in the High Court in September apprising the court about the solution it has reached with the petitioner.

The proposal would mark the first attempt by VMC to offer TDR under the amended Section 20(C) of the Town Planning Act, 1976, VMC Town Development Officer Jitesh Trivedi told this newspaper on Wednesday. Trivedi said, “The proposal after the Gujarat HC told us that we cannot ‘return’ the land to the landowner — as per the earlier decision — as the road had already been constructed. Since we do not have the funds to pay the owners of these lands as the sum amounts to several crores, we have offered TDR to the petitioner after holding meetings since March… This solution is currently for one landowner. There are two other petitions in the same road widening project of Faramji Lane — where one petitioner has appealed in the Supreme Court seeking a conversion of the zone of the land for his benefit while there is a status quo in the third case.”

In March 2022, the VMC’s Standing Committee had resolved to “reverse the widening” and return the land to the owners as it had “no funds” to pay the compensation amounting to about Rs 100 crore as the HC had directed the civic body to “immediately compensate” one landowner, Kanji Mokariya of Maruti Developers. Two other petitions by Mayank Patel — who owns the biggest land portion acquired by VMC and Nikitin Contractor are yet to be decided. VMC officials said no solution could be reached in case of Patel’s land as he was seeking “change of zone reservation” of one of his lands that is currently reserved for ‘public parking’ under the TP scheme.

Patel told The Indian Express on Wednesday that VMC had not approached him with the offer of the TDR. “The VMC has offered the amicable solution to one petitioner, whose land is in between the other two petitioners; even if they come to a compromise and settlement, what use will it be if the contention with the other landowners is not resolved… I do not have any pending litigation in case of the road widening but eight legal notices sent to the VMC seeking compensation as per the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, as well as the rental compensation for commercial use of my land during the years that no compensation was paid, has not been acknowledged. The petition before the SC is regarding reservation of the land… The VMC did not approach me for finding an amicable solution although two lands at the beginning and end of the lane in contention belong to me,” Patel said.

While Mokariya remained unavailable for comment on Wednesday, Municipal Commissioner Dilip Rana said the current proposal was “in regard with the petition in the HC”.

Faramji lane, where the Alkapuri end of the Vadodara railway station opens, had seen a widening of the 15-metre road to 30 metres in 2017, for which the VMC had acquired plots in the lane belonging to Patel, Mokariya and Contractor.

On March 10, 2022, the Standing Committee considered an urgent proposal seeking approval to ‘reject the claim’ of one of the landowners — Kanji Mokariya — based on whose writ petition, the High Court had granted the civic body two weeks time in an order dated February 15, 2022, to pay the compensation or reject the claim, which would also mean that the civic body had to return the plot.

The order, which had set a precedent in at least 15 other similar cases against the VMC pending in the HC, related to city-wide road demolitions undertaken in 2017, is now being executed by the civic body. On Thursday, officials of the VMC arrived at the Faramji lane with hydraulic excavators and dug up the concrete road to “signify the handover” to the owners. In February 2023, the VMC began “digging the road” to return the land to the owners until the HC intervened and asked the VMC to “find an amicable solution” as the “public facility” had already been created.

On Wednesday, TDO Trivedi added the offer of TDR would also allow the VMC to apply the same solution in other cases of land acquisition where compensation is pending. “In other cases, especially those in the old city areas, the amount to be paid to individual petitioners seeking compensation is not big and therefore, we have also paid the compensation to many landowners whose lands were acquired during the road widening in areas of Yakutpura and Fatepura. However, those who agree to accept TDR, will be granted the same,” Trivedi said.

Trivedi added that unlike Ahmedabad and Surat, VMC had not been able to implement TDR so far. “TDR is obtained in the form of certificates that the owner can subsequently use for himself or trade with any developer for cash. The VMC is not involved in the exchange. TDR is the way forward to ensure development of a city without making it hard for civic bodies to meet the costs of land compensations,” Trivedi said.