The Bombay High Court ruling that could change cluster redevelopment of old buildings in Mumbai forever

 The colony is slated for cluster redevelopment under the MHADA redevelopment project. (Express Photo by Akash Patil)

A bench of Justices Makarand S Karnik and Shriram M Modak of the Bombay HC on July 2 dismissed pleas by Societies challenging the Bandra-Worli layouts tender process and the Government Resolutions (GRs) of April and December 2025, observing that “MHADA-led redevelopment is justified considering the nature and size of the layout, the age of the buildings, the public housing-policy framework and the need for integrated planning.”

The GRs introduced a policy for integrated or cluster redevelopment of MHADA layouts spanning 20 acres or more in Greater Mumbai and suburban areas, enabling a single private C&D agency instead of individual housing societies separately redeveloping their buildings.

The layouts comprise buildings constructed in the 1950s and 1960s as “affordable housing” for the Middle Income Group (MIG) and Lower Income Group (LIG), with hundreds of housing societies, some now dilapidated.

The petitioner housing societies claimed they were “forced” into rehabilitation, depriving them of an independent redevelopment opportunity under the Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR), and that the policy illegally dispensed with individual consent of owners and societies while giving a “free hand” to the appointed C&D agency.

Upholding the state’s stand, the HC observed that whether redevelopment to be independent or integrated is a planning and policy decision of the State and MHADA.

The bench held that the GRs were issued in the “larger public interest, not offending any statutory provision”. It added that integrated redevelopment would allow roads, utilities and amenities to be planned from a “broader perspective,” in a “planned and comprehensive manner, instead of permitting fragmented and piecemeal redevelopment by individual societies.”

The Court noted the developer “is bound under the e-tender to obtain consent of 51% of the cooperative societies in the layout” and “societies are thus afforded the opportunity to accord their consent.” It added societies “do not have absolute or unfettered” rights over MHADA land, while members were “adequately compensated” with rehabilitation area more than twice their present tenements.

The state assured HC of not issuing work order for four weeks after petitioners sought protection to approach Supreme Court in appeal.

The Bandra and Worli ruling is the latest in a series of High Court decisions clearing redevelopment of MHADA layouts through integrated rebuilding serving broader planning objectives over separate redevelopment of societies.

In March 2025, a bench of then Chief Justice Alok Aradhe (now a Supreme Court judge) and Justice Bharati H Dangre rejected petitioners’ contention that “MHADA has been set up to protect the public interest at large in Mumbai and not to sanction the destruction”, while upholding the integrated redevelopment of Motilal Nagar.

Clearing the project, the HC observed that it may not be possible to undertake redevelopment on a “piecemeal” basis as each society “would look solely to the personal interest of itself and its members, and likely appoint a developer to undertake a narrow and limited development of its land/buildings.”

The Court said such an approach would undermine orderly planning and “expose societies to “exigencies of commercial developments by the developers”.

It highlighted that “it is only a holistic redevelopment that proposes a solution for the long-term problem of flooding and water-logging faced by the occupants of Motilal Nagar”, which “certainly cannot be resolved” by individual rehabilitation of separate parcels of land. The Supreme Court upheld the HC decision in July last year.

Justice Nitin M Jamdar (now retired), while dealing with disputes over Abhyuday Nagar, upheld in April 2016 the stand of the federation of housing societies to redevelop together, observing, “To have the best possible outcome from the redevelopment process, the widest possible choice must be made available to the members.”

The state approved cluster redevelopment of Abhyuday Nagar in 2024, and last year MHADA’s regional unit re-invited tenders for the project. In May, this year MHADA issued letter of acceptance (LoA) to consortium comprising MGN Agro Properties, NNP Buildcon, and Honest Shelters.

Adani Properties is the highest bidder for the Bandra and Worli redevelopment, though the letter of award is pending. It is already the C&D agency for Motilal Nagar after submitting the highest bid of Rs 36,000 crore.

MHADA has also initiated the tender process for redevelopment of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP) Nagar in Andheri- West, which will be subject to lchallenges before the courts. A joint venture led by Hanura Realty, a subsidiary of JSW Steel, has won the bid.