Compensate for land taken for Sahar Elevated Road: HC to BMC

The Bombay high court has directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to issue a Development Rights Certificate (DRC) to Eversmile Construction Company, whose land was taken over for the construction of the Sahar Elevated Road without compensation. The court stated that compensation must be given in some form, such as additional FSI or transferable development rights, and ordered the BMC to issue the DRC within four weeks. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) denied having taken over the land, but agreed to recommend compensation in the form of transferable development rights.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court recently directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to issue a Development Rights Certificate (DRC) to Eversmile Construction Company, whose 730 square meters of land has been taken over for construction of the Sahar Elevated Road, which leads to the international terminals on the upper deck of the airport, but without paying any compensation to the construction firm.

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“We see no manner in which the holder of a property can be denied a legitimate and recognised form of compensation for the property taken over for public use,” the division bench of justice Gautam Patel and justice Kamal Khata said.

“Either there has to be compensation under an acquisition act, or some form of compensation must be given in kind, for instance by additional FSI, transferable development right, etc.,” it added and directed BMC to issue the DRC to Eversmile Construction Company in four weeks.

The firm had moved to the high court this year, seeking a direction to the BMC and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to accept the surrender of the portion and direct them to grant it transferable development right (TDR) in the form of DRC, contending that the land was taken for Sahar Elevated Road without undertaking acquisition proceedings and without paying any compensation to it.

Shocked that the private property was taken over by state agencies without resorting to acquisition proceedings and without paying compensation to the owners, the court said, the case “presented an utterly unique situation, even by the standards of the strange goings-on in this city.”

The judges were more surprised when both the BMC and the MMRDA, a special planning authority for the airport area, denied having taken over the property. Though the Sahar Elevated Road is now maintained by Mumbai International Airports Limited (MIAL), the MMRDA claimed that the land owned by Eversmile Construction Company fell beyond its jurisdiction.

On Wednesday, MMRDA filed an affidavit pursuant to August 31 orders of the high court and reiterated that it had no jurisdiction over the petitioner’s property, but agreed to make a recommendation to the BMC to grant TDR to Eversmile Construction Company.

The bench issued the directive to the BMC in view of MMRDA’s willingness to make a recommendation for a grant of compensation in the form of TDR, observing that even if the land fell within the limits of MMRDA, the DRC would be issued by BMC only.

Besides, the court also took into consideration the effect of non-grant compensation on the firm. “Above all, we are mindful of the resultant chaos if compensation in this form is not granted to the petitioner,” said the bench. “That is a much wider public interest because it would necessarily mean that even MMRDA officials would not be able to get to the airport.”