TOI : HC upholds eviction, clears path for Bhoiwada redvpt : Oct 14,2007
HC upholds eviction, clears path for Bhoiwada redvpt
Swati Deshpande I TNN
Mumbai: The Bombay high court has paved the way for redevelopment of Bhoiwada village in central Mumbai.
The court upheld an eviction order against 19 dissenting tenants, of over 700, who were opposing the urban renewal scheme being implemented by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to whom the land belongs.
The land being opened up for redevelopment, almost at one go, is a sprawling 21,132 sq m at a prime location adjacent to a cluster of five hospitals, including Tata Memorial Hospital. There are 729 residential tenants on the plot in the many chawls that are dilapidated, said the BMC. There are also around 50 commercial tenants as well as 15-20 industrial units, which now have to make way for a proposed new township with wider roads.
The civic body, through its counsel A Y Sakhare, informed high court judge Justice A P Deshpande that the redevelopment project was in the public interest as the buildings were old and dilapidated, and would be redeveloped to give free accommodation to the existing tenants.
Redevelopment of the area has been hanging fire since 1991 when the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) took up the work and shifted out 180 families to transit camps across Mumbai, including Kandivli, where they still remain 16 years later.
The petitioners opposing the scheme, Taramati Mane and others, submitted through their lawyer G K Jadhav that they feared being shunted out to squalid transit camps where they would remain for years with no alternative accommodation. They also contended that the proposed redevelopment was intended to benefit not the BMC or the tenants but the builders who had bagged the contract. The project has a budget of at least an estimated Rs 400 crore.
The BMC said Mhada, which was requested to undertake the redevelopment, abandoned the project. The BMC then decided to redevelop the property on its own under the urban renewal scheme with a revised sanctioned development plan of F-South ward, which would also provide for recreation grounds and new roads.
The project envisages the widening of the two roads leading to Tata Memorial Hospital, KEM Hospital, Wadia Hospital, Bajaj Orthopaedic Hospital and TB Hospital as there is always a bottleneck on these roads. The BMC said more than 70% of the tenants have consented to the scheme and in 2002 the improvements committee had given the contract to winning bidders Vighanaharta Builders.
Subsequently, in 2005, a 312-room transit camp was constructed by the builder and 160 tenants were shifted there for phase-wise implementation of the project. By refusing to join in, the handful of tenants was leaving the rest of the tenants in the lurch, said the BMC.
The few tenants who were served the eviction notice had first gone to the city civil court to challenge it. Their plea was dismissed there and they then moved the HC in appeal, which too has now asked them to vacate the premises. The BMC said the first building to be constructed will house 303 old tenants.
s.deshpande@timesgroup.com
NEW ROAD AHEAD: Nineteen tenants had opposed redevelopment of the area under the urban renewal scheme. The HC has now upheld eviction notices issued to them
Publication:Times of India Mumbai; Date:Oct 14, 2007; Section:Times City; Page Number:3
URL : http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA3LzEwLzE0I0FyMDAzMDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom