Maharashtra government’s slum policy ‘weird’ as it encourages encroachments: Bombay HC

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has termed the Maharashtra government’s slum policy as “weird”, under which encroachers are given free housing, and lamented that an international city like Mumbai is known for its slums.

In its judgment delivered on Tuesday, a division bench comprising Justices Girish Kulkarni and Jitendra Jain said that the state’s policies had led to the siphoning off of large tracts of land from the “state resource”.

He also called for “a thorough introspection of such government policies, keeping in mind the difficult situation of the future generation who will feel the ill effects of this state of affairs.”

The court held that once a slum on private land is recognized under the Slums Act, strangely, encroachment on private land is transformed into a legitimate right to a free tenement in favor of the encroacher under the State Government’s slum policy, which in our view, amounts to a bonus for the illegality of the intruder’s interference on private or public property.

The court said government authorities must realize the reality that removing encroachers from private and public lands is a herculean task.

The court said this was a reminder of the “pathetic reality” that prime public land in Mumbai has disappeared from the public pool and is being subjected to private development by developers in the guise of slum redevelopment.

It said that had the official machinery operated legally, today we would not be dealing with the situation of an international city like Mumbai, also known for its slums on private and public lands.

The court held that the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) has an onerous duty to reasonably, non-arbitrarily and objectively address the valuable property rights of private citizens who are being drawn into a situation where encroachment monsters and their enablers are taking over, depriving them of rights in their hands landowner’s right to ownership.

“They forget that there is the rule of law and there are courts, and any attempt to undermine the rule of law can be dealt with with iron hands. We may also add that if the official machinery were to function in accordance with the law, today we would not be faced with the situation of an international city like Mumbai, also known for its slums on private and public lands,” the HC said.

The bench quashed the October 2021 notice issued by the SRA director general to the Mount Mary Church Trust seeking acquisition of part of its land in suburban Bandra for a slum redevelopment project.

“In our opinion, the takeover in the present case is completely unjustified. The SRA’s decision, taken in haste, is therefore clearly illegal,” he said.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Bishop John Rodrigues, sole trustee and rector of the Basilica of Our Lady on Mount Mount Mary Road in Bandra, challenging the SRA notification to acquire a 1,596 square meter land for a slum redevelopment project.

According to the plea, the trust owns a land measuring 9,371 square meters situated in Bandra Mumbai, of which 35 slums occupy land measuring 1,596 square meters.

In its order, the court said that slum dwellers were only entitled to permanent alternative accommodation under a statutory program and state policy.

“Slum dwellers cannot assume that they will become land owners and usurp their rights, eliminating the rights of real land owners. In our opinion, none of these land ownership rights of slum dwellers are recognized under the Slum Act and no such rights can be derived therefrom,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it was state policy that in fact encouraged encroachment on all categories of land and led to the siphoning of large amounts of government land from the ‘state pool’ as well as the complete loss of private land to its owners,” the court said.

Such a position is completely unacceptable, since the rights of every person are granted by the Constitution and laws, he added.

The bench said that a thorough introspection of such government policies is necessary, keeping in mind the difficult situation of the future generation who would feel the ill effects of the current state of affairs.

“It is high time to consider future laws in this area. We are aware of the needs of large cities that require large numbers of migrant labor and recognize the housing needs of such labor. However, this could not mean that valuable land, public or private, can be taken away just because such land is allowed to be encroached on for a long period of time, which destroys the basic observance of the legal principles regarding property rights,” he said.

The bench said that the SRA and other authorities must realize the reality that in Mumbai it is a herculean task to remove all encroachments on private and public lands.

It is equally difficult for a private landowner to protect his land and prevent encroachment, the HC said.

“It is a sad story because encroachment is not done by such encroachers who just sit on the land, but are invariably supported by slumlords, criminals, social workers and politicians (as squatters would be vote banks),” it said.