‘Builder rivalry can affect redevelopment decisions’

The Bombay high court has granted relief to a city-based developer who had challenged an order of the High Power Committee (HPC) to terminate a redevelopment project at Vakola in Santacruz in favour of another developer.

The Bombay high court has granted relief to a city-based developer who had challenged an order of the High Power Committee (HPC) to terminate a redevelopment project at Vakola in Santacruz in favour of another developer.

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The court observed: “The high prices of land in Mumbai and bitter rivalries amongst developers are some of the ground realities which surround such decisions.”

The petitioner, a developer, was selected by a Santacruz housing society in 1986 to redevelop its property. In June 2011, the society asked for removal of the developer on grounds that in 26 years, only a fraction of the work had been done.

The CEO entrusted the work to a new builder. The petitioner challenged the participation of the CEO, SS Zhende, in deciding the appeal against his own order — Zhende was also one of the members in HPC. Counsel for the petitioner argued that as per law, a developer could not be changed at the whims and fancies of every successive managing committee.