Tenants fight for self-redevelopment of chawl …….Nauzer Bharucha I TNN
Mumbai: Balkrishnan Nagvekar, a former BEST employee, is almost as old as theDatta Prasad complex, an early 20th century residential enclave comprising 297 tenements behind Bhatia Hospital at Grant Road. The seven ageing chawls, which are part of the sprawling complex, have had local builders and politicians salivating at its huge development potential.
But Nagvekar and a majority of the tenants have been fending them off for years now—most of the tenants deciding that they rather redevelop the entire property themselves, without the aid of a builder and with the assistance of the state housing authority, Mhada.
Last week, the 78-year-old resident, who is the chief promoter of the proposed society, finally got a taste of the high stakes involved—he was manhandled by a local Shiv Sena shakha pramukh inside the complex, in front of dozens of other tenants, who watched helplessly.
“Let them fight the battle legally instead of resorting to strong-arm tactics,’’ he said, sitting inside his 280-sq-ft flat as others nod in agreement. The Sena activist, who is also a tenant, wants everyone in Datta Prasad to opt out of the self-redevelopment scheme and allow a private builder to step in. An FIR has been registered against him.
At the heart of the conflict is a little-known provision of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) Act, which allows tenants of pre-1940 cessed properties to become owners by paying the landlord 100 months’ rent and pave the way for Mhada to acquire the entire property. The scheme has to be initiated by at least 70% of the tenants, who must form a cooperative society, collect money and redevelop the property themselves.
Commonly known as Chapter 8A of the Mhada Act, it was introduced about two decades ago. But its implementation has been stayed by the Supreme Court for over a decade after city landlords challenged it. The case was first heard by a division bench in the apex court. It was subsequently referred to a five-judge constitutional bench, which, in turn, passed it on to a seven- judge bench.
The matter was then referred to a nine-judge bench, which is yet to decide on the case. Like the Datta Prasad tenants, about 1,000 other old buildings in the island city have applied to Mhada under Chapter 8A for self-redevelopment. So far, only one building in Kalbadevi has been redeveloped under this scheme.
In the Datta Prasad chawls case, a few tenants recently filed a special leave petition (SLP), urging the apex court to allow them to get out of the scheme and invite a private developer instead. The builder-driven scheme, commonly known as 33(7), stipulates that developers rehouse existing tenants free of cost in new buildings and then exploit a portion of the land to cover the expenses and make profits.
Nagvekar, however, said the tenants who filed the SLP had no locus standi and that they misrepresented the facts. A property once acquired by Mhada under Chapter 8A cannot be de-acquired. “It is admitted that the issue regarding the constitutional validity of Chapter 8A of the Mhada Act is to be decided by the full bench. Unless it decides on this issue, it would not be proper to pass an order on the said application as that would amount to preempting the future judgment,’’ Nagvekar said in his affidavit, challenging the SLP.
In 1996, the Datta Prasad complex was in the centre of a raging controversy when the then Shiv Sena housing minister, Chandrakant Khaire, stayed Mhada’s acquisition of the property under pressure from the chawls’ landlord. The Bombay high court subsequently quashed Khaire’s stay order and passed strictures against him.
The court had noted that the stay was “totally unwarranted and uncalled for’’ and said the minister “ought not to have passed the order of stay on the acquisition proceedings’’.
Meanwhile, inside the old chawls, residents wait for the Supreme Court to take a decision. After all, it’s been almost 15 years that the matter has been caught in litigation.
WHAT IS CHAPTER 8A?
WHAT IS CHAPTER 8A?
Chapter 8A of the Mhada Act, popularly referred to as the tenant ownership scheme, has been largely ineffective in its aim to grant ownership rights to tenants of the city’s 19,000 cessed structures. The scheme has been challenged by landlords in the Supreme Court on the question of appropriate compensation. The scheme provides for a one-time compensation of 100 months’ rent from each tenant to the landlord in return for ownership rights. Tenants’ activists have argued that the scheme offers the best solution to the city’s vexed rent and tenancy problems. However, under Chapter 8A, a tenant who becomes an owner cannot sell, lease or mortgage the property in perpetuity. TNN
HOUSING TUSSLE: Though most of the tenants of the Dutta Prasad complex at Grant Road want to redevelop the 20th century building themselves with the help of Mhada, some of them want a builder to step in and take charge of the project