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The Bombay High Court has ordered two developers to pay transit arrears of Rs 11 crore to an SRA project in a suburb. The order came after a petition was filed by Shree Sai Pawan SRA CHS Ltd alleging that the appointed developers had not paid transit rent to them since 2019.
The division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale made this observation on Monday. The slum rehabilitation project located in Jogeshwari, a suburb of Mumbai, had Afcons Developers Ltd and Ameya Housing Private Ltd assigned as co-developers.
Over 300 people who are eligible to receive flats from the project have not been receiving any transit rent since 2019. Out of these 300 people, 17 were placed in transit accommodations but were not getting any transit rent as their houses were also in poor condition. The remaining 230 people have been left to take care of themselves without any transit rent. The court noted that the two co-developers are engaged in an ongoing arbitration and no work has been carried out at the site.
The court emphasized that Mumbai is not a city for developers and that the Slum Rehabilitation Act is not meant for developers, but rather for the public welfare. The developers are only a means to that end. The court also mentioned that the developers are entitled to a free sale component provided by the incentive Floor Space Index (FSI) as a consideration for fulfilling their obligations.
The court stated that the developers have certain obligations that extend beyond just constructing or rebuilding the rehabilitation structures, including commercial and residential tenements. These obligations also include the provision of habitable transit accommodations or payment of transit rent. Failure to fulfil these obligations within the specified time frame would result in the developers being ineligible for any benefits of the slum rehabilitation project, such as the free sale component.
The Slum Rehabilitation Act was introduced in Mumbai in 1995 to improve the living conditions of slum dwellers in the city. Under the act, private developers are given the rights to develop slum land in exchange for rehabilitating slum residents by providing them with new homes in the same location.
The act has had a significant impact on real estate development in Mumbai. On the one hand, it has encouraged the development of slum areas that were previously considered undevelopable due to legal constraints. This has increased the supply of land available for real estate development, leading to an increase in the number of residential and commercial projects in the city.
On the other hand, the act has also led to an increase in the number of slum dwellers in Mumbai. While the act has provided slum residents with better living conditions and improved access to basic services, it has also led to the displacement of many others, who have been forced to move to other parts of the city.
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