HC slams state for allotting Bandstand plot to society: The Bombay high court on Tuesday rapped the state government over its decision to allot prime land on Bandra Bandstand to a housing society.Questioning the government largesse, a division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Mridula Bhatkar struck down the decision to allot 1,550 sq m of land on lease to Vinaper Castle Co-operative Housing Society to regularize the flats in the building.The state had justified its decision saying that while the original allottee of the land had violated lease conditions by allowing a private builder to construct a seven-storey building, the flat purchasers should not be made to suffer. Showing sympathy to the flat purchasers, all the authorities have completely ignored that a valuable open portion of the land having large floor space index available in the prime locality near Bandra Bandstand was granted to the said society, the court stated. It said the society had inducted three new members who were allowed to construct a building/ row houses on the vacant portion by charging Rs 12 crore.The land was originally leased to one E J Menesse in 1901, who constructed a bungalow, cottage and garage. In 1934, one Vincent Pereira acquired the land and a fresh lease was signed in 1975. Despite the lease agreement barring transfer of the land to a third party, Pereira signed a development agreement in 1978 with a private builder. A seven-storey building with 13 flats was constructed. In the 1980s the government launched proceedings for violating the lease agreement. In 2006, the collector decided to allot the entire 1,550 sq m of land to the society, citing hardships to the flat purchasers, a decision that was confirmed by the state government in 2009. This was challenged by the builder and Pereira descendants in the high court.The state justified its action saying that of the 48 plots, which had been allotted in the last century on Mount Mary Road, in 31 cases there was a breach of the terms. In 16 cases, the land had now been allotted to the societies. We fail to see how public interest is served by allotting such a valuable open plot of land to the said society without following any transparent...procedure, said the court. However, it has allowed the society to apply to the state to allot to it the land in which the building stands.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 03:04:59 +0000
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