Bombay HC makes way for Mumbai's slum rehabilitation project in Cuff Parade, soon 7,000 dwellers to have better homes

In a major relief to people of slum area in Cuff Parade of South Mumbai, Bombay High Court paved way for a slum rehabilitation Project last week.

More than 7,000 hutments will go for redevelopment under Maharashtra Government's Slum Rehabilitation Scheme, situated near World Trade Centre waiting for its redevelopment for nearly last two decades. This slum will be redeveloped by Shapoorji Paloonji group's subsidiary Precautions Properties Pvt Ltd.

In 2018, the proposal of Precautions Properties Private Limited was approved by the Grievance Redressal Committee of Slum Rehabilitation Authority of Maharashtra Government but this approval was challenged by the rival developer Diana Estate and a local housing society by filing a writ petition in Bombay High Court, on Tuesday Bombay HC rejected the said petition.

A bench of Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Milind Jadhav in the order admitted that the developer company has sufficient financial capacity and the support of slum dwellers to complete the project.

Bombay HC stated that "For rehabilitation of this slum area, many developers had submitted their proposal, and none of the proposals were found valid. Piecemeal implementation of the scheme is not viable. Precaution's proposal is for the entire area. This proposal could not be processed because of the pending litigations. 84 per cent of the eligible slum dwellers of 23 co-operative housing societies are supporting Precaution's proposal. The financial position of Precaution and its holding company has been found sufficiently robust to ensure that the project is completed and the slum dwellers are housed."

Court further added,"Slum dwellers have been waiting for rehabilitation for over two decades. They submit that the only consequence of setting aside the impugned order will be that the process will start all over again, meaning the slum dwellers will continue living in squalid conditions. Ultimately such schemes are implemented to mitigate the hardship of the slum dwellers and they should not be casually set aside by the writ courts only on technical grounds unless a case of gross illegalities or failure of justice is made out. Considering the totality of the circumstances, we conclude that no interference in writ jurisdiction is warranted. Writ Petition is dismissed."

In this most awaited case judgement although an army of lawyers stood up in this case, but an interesting thing also took place, Shrinivas Sharad Bobde who appeared on behalf of the slum dwellers.

Reacting to the court order, developer ShapoorJi Palonji director Dr. Rajendra Pratap Singh said, "We would like to start the work as soon as possible and complete the project so that a better life can be started for thousands of slum dwellers. Also, this project is a landmark project. For the first time, an SRA project will have all the features of a smart city which will be equipped with many facilities including CCTV, Security, Public WiFi, Waste Management, Energy Management and Water Management etc. "

Spread over 28 acres, the project will have 30 storey high rise towers will be built. Significantly, under the SRA scheme, only a maximum of 22 storey buildings have been built so far. This Project is being made in one of the most expensive areas of the country in Cuff Parade. Prices of land, touch the sky in the Cuff Parade and it is one of the most expensive areas in the country. After this SRA project, the person living in the slums here can become a millionaire.

(ANI)

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