MHADA sets May 2024 deadline to complete Patra Chawl rehab building for tenants

The court has also asked MHADA as to when it would pay unpaid arrears due from the defaulter developer to the persons who had vacated their houses for the redevelopment and are awaiting redeveloped premises. The court asked the authority to expedite the process for completing the construction and giving possession to the original occupants.

The court also asked the authority to make provisions to pay transit rent to the society members from the date when MHADA took over the completion of the building. It asked as to whether the MHADA or special High-Powered Committee had any proposal for recovery of financial costs and from where the authority would recover the amounts.

The bench on April 3 dismissed an interim application by one of the aggrieved members of the society, who wanted HC to ascertain whether the MHADA permitting the developer to encash the saleable component of the project prior to completion of rehab component was as per “principle”.

The bench said that the application was “raking up the past but suggesting nothing for the future” and dealing with such a plea would create more problems and will delay a solution to the issue.

Siddharth Nagar, popularly known as Patra Chawl, is located in the northern Mumbai suburb of Goregaon. It had a total of 672 houses, spread over an area of 47 acres and the members of the society, who have vacated their premises are entitled to permanent reaccommodation and transit rent

The developer, Guru Ashish Constructions Private Limited, now defunct, which was appointed to rehouse members of society by constructing rehab tenement in consideration of free sale development component, had defaulted in completion of the project and MHADA took over responsibility of completion of the project.

A division bench of Justice Gautam S Patel and Justice Neela K Gokhale has been hearing pleas related to the redevelopment project. The court also heard an interim application in plea by fifteen persons who claimed that though they had purchased flats in the saleable component of the project, they could not take possession of the same due to lack of Occupation Certificate (OC).

The plea claimed that though the buyers had got relief after HC had directed MHADA to get OCs issued, the persons who had vacated their houses for the project are still awaiting their redeveloped premises.

The court noted that while the applicant/petitioner would want to argue the matter on board public policy angle, “it is too late” for that and “going down that path will prejudice the Society and MHADA very considerably.”

“We must take a more pragmatic approach to these things, and we must retain our objective in mind: to ensure that the Society members get their homes and their transit rent,” it said.

The court said that it would keep the issue, especially those raised by original tenants, pending “so that it would issue directions periodically until the society members are given possession and receive the compensation amount that is legitimately found payable to them.” It added, “That is our primary and overriding concern.”

The bench added that it was “not flagellating” MHADA for past decisions regarding the project, but wanted to ensure MHADA’s cooperation would bring the matter to an “accelerated closure.”