Bombay HC says 20-year delay by developer amounts to ‘death knell’ for slum rehabilitation project

A single-judge bench of Justice Milind N Jadhav passed a judgment on Arora’s plea that challenged a May 17, 2022, order of the chief executive officer of the Slum Redevelopment Authority and an order passed by the Apex Grievance Redressal Committee on September 29, 2022.

In July 1998, Arora purchased the 2,204.04 square meters property for Rs 4.75 lakh. In September that year, the additional collector (encroachments) and the controller for Mumbai suburban district certified 96 of 148 slum-dwellers on the property as eligible, after which the rehabilitation scheme was sanctioned on the property.

On October 17, 1998, Arora was appointed as a developer and in May, 1999, a commencement certificate was issued for carrying out work up to the plinth level for the rehab building. However, in the next four years, Arora constructed the building consisting of the ground and seven more floors with 116 rehab tenements with a 225 square feet carpet area each.

In November 2003, the Slum Redevelopment Authority issued a stop-work notice for him after he carried out construction beyond the approved plan. The notice stated that while the permissible Floor Space Index under the Coastal Regulation Zone was 1.00, the amended scheme was submitted for a higher FSI. After Arora sought a review of restrictions, the authority in April 2004 approved an FSI of 2.526, out of which 1.25 was to be allowed to be consumed on the said property but subject to conditions.

The court noted that from April 2004 to June 2014, when he sold the property to Amikrupa Land Developers Pvt Ltd for Rs 15 crore, no steps were taken for its development.

The court added that transactions including the registered deed for the sale of the property in October 2016 were “suppressed” by Arora in the plea and proceedings before the authority. The authorities also termed as “forged and fabricated” a subsequent unregistered deed of 2017 submitted by the petitioner for the cancellation of the sale deed.

The authority issued a showcause notice to Arora in 2018 citing inordinate delay in the project. In 2019, the developer revised the development scheme and agreed to demolish the existing building.

In November 2021, after the Covid pandemic, the society passed a resolution to remove the petitioner as the developer citing the delay and failure to pay transit rent. The termination orders were issued by the authorities in 2022.

The court noted that there was a “complete stalemate” on the development front between 2004 and 2018, which “severely prejudiced implementation of the scheme”. It held that the petitioner was “disinterested, negligent and lethargic” and that the slum scheme was yet to take off.

“To allow such a developer to continue any further would be a devastating decision,” the court said while dismissing his plea.