Case Note & Summary
In Mumbai, where more than half the population lives in slums, the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971 was enacted to address housing and health hazards by improving, clearing, and redeveloping slum areas. The Act, as originally enacted, provided for improvement, clearance, and redevelopment of individual slum areas. Chapter II empowers the Competent Authority to declare an area as a slum area. Chapter III allows the Competent Authority to undertake improvement works such as laying water mains, sewers, and providing community facilities, and if owners fail to execute required works, the Competent Authority may do so with costs recoverable from owners. Chapter IV provides for slum clearance and redevelopment; where the most satisfactory method is demolition of all buildings, the area may be declared a clearance area, and after clearance, the owner may redevelop the land. If the owner fails to redevelop or breaches conditions, the Competent Authority may undertake redevelopment at its own cost. In 1996, Chapter IA introduced the concept of slum rehabilitation schemes, establishing the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) to prepare general rehabilitation schemes. The scheme provides for participation of landholders and occupants or, in their default, for SRA to implement the scheme. Chapter V of the Act makes provision for compulsory acquisition of land in slum areas, which is necessary for the authorities to carry out improvement or rehabilitation. Section 14 empowers the State Government to acquire land after following a prescribed procedure, and section 17 determines compensation as an amount equal to sixty times the net average monthly income derived from the land over the five consecutive years preceding the acquisition notice, with principles for calculation set out in the First Schedule. The petitioners, owners of lands declared as slum areas between 1977 and 1998 under section 4 of the Act, challenged acquisition notices issued under section 14 between 1997 and 2007 and the final notifications issued between 2000 and 2007. They also assailed the constitutional validity of sections 14 and 17. The High Court, in its judgment delivered on 10 May 2013, discussed the background of slums, the statutory scheme, and the necessity of compulsory acquisition for achieving the Act’s purposes. The court noted the recognition in the draft National Slum Policy that slums contribute economically and should be upgraded. However, the provided text of the judgment ends with the court’s description of the parties’ challenges; it does not include the final holding on the constitutional validity of the impugned sections or the disposal of the petitions. Therefore, the actual decision and reasoning on the legal issues remain unknown from the excerpt.
Issue of Consideration
Constitutional validity of sections 14 and 17 of the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971
Case Details
2013 LawText (BOM) (05) 21
Writ Petition No. 2582 of 2003 with Writ Petition No. 91 of 2002, Writ Petition No. 608 of 2009, Writ Petition No. 1489 of 2008, Writ Petition No. 2905 of 2008, Writ Petition No. 2906 of 2008, Writ Petition No. 2786 of 2008 and connected Chamber Summons and Contempt Petition
Mohit S. Shah, C.J., Anoop V. Mohta, J.
Dr. Virendra Tulzapurkar, Mr. P.K. Dhakephalkar, Mr. E.P. Bharucha, Mr. Venkatesh Dhond, Mr. Ravi Kadam, Mr. A.V. Anturkar and others
Sara Harry D'Mello, Reserve Bank Employees' Snehadhara Co-op. Hsg. Soc. Ltd., Cyril Domnic Machado & Ors., Nenshi Monji & Ors., Smt. Mariyambai Nurmohamad & Anr., Prakash Anant Rajput & Ors., Sameer H. Kapadia & Ors.
State of Maharashtra & Others
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Nature of Litigation
Writ petitions challenging the constitutional validity of sections 14 and 17 of the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971, and acquisition proceedings initiated thereunder.
Remedy Sought
The petitioners sought to quash the acquisition notices and final notifications, and to declare sections 14 and 17 unconstitutional.
Filing Reason
The petitioners' lands were declared slum areas under section 4 of the Slum Act, and acquisition proceedings were commenced under section 14, leading to final notifications under the same provision.
Issues
Constitutional validity of sections 14 and 17 of the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971.
Judgment Excerpts
This group of writ petitions challenges the constitutional validity of sections 14 and 17 of the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971 (“Slum Act”, for brevity).
The petitioners in this group of petitions, who are owners of lands which came to be declared as slum areas under section 4 of the Slum Act between the years 1977 and 1998, have challenged the notices for acquisition of the lands issued under section 14 of the Slum Act between the years 1997 and 2007 and the final notifications issued between the years 2000 and 2007.
Chapter V of the Slum Act, therefore, makes provision for compulsory acquisition of such lands.
The amount payable as compensation shall be “an amount equal to sixty times the net average monthly income actually derived from such land during the period of five consecutive years immediately preceding the date of publication of the notice for acquisition of the land under section 14”.
Procedural History
Lands were declared slum areas between 1977 and 1998 under section 4 of the Slum Act. Notices for acquisition were issued under section 14 between 1997 and 2007. Final notifications were issued between 2000 and 2007. The petitioners filed writ petitions in the Bombay High Court challenging the acquisition and the constitutional validity of sections 14 and 17. The High Court heard the group of petitions together and reserved judgment, delivering a CAV judgment on 10 May 2013.
Acts & Sections
- Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971: Sections 4, 5C, 11, 12(10), 14, 17, Chapter IA, Chapter II, Chapter III, Chapter IV, Chapter V
