Slum regularisation: State moves SC
Rakshit Sonawane
THE Maharashtra governmenthas moved theSupreme Court (SC)
against an order of the MumbaiHigh Court (HC) which had asked the government
not to extend the deadline for regularisation of slums from1995 to 2000. The
case isslated for hearing in the SC on Wednesday.
The State has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the SC on the issue,
challengingthe HC order ontechnical grounds. The SLP was filed on February
15, afteradvocate-general RaviKadam advised the stategovernment to request
theSC to set aside the HC order.
The State had the optionof filing a review petitionin the HC, but
theadvocate-general preferredmoving the SC.
The State’s gesture comesin the wake of a judgementof a HC bench
comprisingJustice F I Rebello and JusticeD Y Chandrachud threemonths ago.
While dismissinga petition on the state’spolicy on transfer of
developmentalright (TDR), theHC bench had mentionedthat since slums were
proliferatingin the metropolis thepolicy to extend the deadlineof
regularising themwas not proper.
The benchobserved that slums whichhad come up after 1995 (the last deadline) shouldnot be regularised.The HC order had sentshockwaves in the corridorsof power in the Democratic Front (DF) government asthe ruling Congress partyhad promised to extend thedeadline of
regularising slums from 1995 to 2000 inits election manifesto for theAssembly polls of
2004.
The government’s objection to the HC order was that the bench which gavethe
order did not have thematter of slum regularisationwith it. The bench
wasruling on a petition filed onTDR. On the other hand,another HC bench of
ChiefJustice H S Bedi was hearinga separate case on slums andthe case is
pending.As per the directives ofthe HC bench of Chief JusticeH S Bedi, the
governmenthas formed a committeeheaded by chiefsecretary D K Sankaran
tojustify the extension of thedeadline.
While filing the SLP inthe SC, the State hasclaimed that the HC’s orderwas a
violation of judicialpropriety and prayed thatthe order be set aside, a
seniorofficial said.
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