MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has stayed a Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme on over 3.5 acres of land, which Bombay University said was acquired for the university between 1967 and 1974 for academic purposes by the Collector of Mumbai.
Although acquired, the lands were not mutated in the name of the university, and taking advantage of non-updated revenue records, third-party rights were created in favour of the developer, said a petition filed by Mumbai University (MU). The university said that by 2024, the land was even notified as a slum since it was encroached upon, and this was done with no notice to the university.
Justices GS Kulkarni and Arif Doctor on July 21, said they found this case to be one of the most unfortunate cases where land acquired by the state for MU to set up the university campus for its future needs is now facing proceedings over the redevelopment of slum dwellers who encroached on the land.
The HC heard advocates Yuvraj Narvankar for the university, senior advocates Anil Singh for SRA, Pravin Samdani for the developer, and Milind Sathe for the slum society before saying, “The land was certainly not acquired for the rehabilitation of slum dwellers or encroachers. At least save the university land from encroachers and the bonanza of a slum scheme of free housing to encroachers and large benefit to private developers, is the cry of the petitioners.” The slum society and builders said not all land was to be utilised as claimed.
The HC said the state has a “vital role” to show all documents pertaining to the acquisition of the land for the university and whether SRA can approve any slum scheme on university land is another vital issue. The HC adjourned the matter to August 11 and sought replies and rejoinders by then.
The HC said, “Prima facie, we are of the opinion that once land was subjected to acquisition for the public purpose to be vested with MU, merely because effective steps were not taken by the state govt for handing over some part of the said land and/or for removal of encroachments, would not bring about a situation that such lands be utilised for the encroachers and for a Slum Rehabilitation Scheme. This is the primary issue.”
