STATE OF MAHARASHTRA Vs. CHARUDUTTA PANDURANG KOLI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The villages of Mahul and Ambapada, in distinction to the densely populated regions of the main city, were hitherto sparsely populated regions, home to only a few local fishing communities and thick mangrove forests. In the 1950s, the State-owned refineries now present in the region were first established in Mahul, with a view to gainfully make use of these lands with negligible population. Over the post few decades, the region has become home to 9 major industrial units, including refineries of the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited ("HPCL"), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited ("BPCL"), Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd., the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre ("BARC") as well as private industrial units such as the Tata Power Thermal Power Plant, Sealord Containers and Aegis Logistics.

(2.) In Writ Petitions (L) No. 874/2018 and (L) No. 3314/2017, the Petitioners have challenged the allotment of tenements reserved for Project Affected Persons ("PAP") to them in a PAP colony by the name of Eversmile Layout, developed by a private builder named Dynamix reality in Mahul, Chembur. The Petitioners in Writ Petition (L) No. 874/2018 have already been relocated to the PAP colony known as the Eversmile Complex in Mahul, Chembur. The Petitioners in Writ Petition (L) No. 3314/2017, have received notices allotting them tenements in Mahul, Chembur, but have not yet been evicted from their existing structures. The present Petitioners were declared to be PAPs due to the Tansa Pipeline Project, which resulted in the dwelling unit/slum located within 10 meters of the Tansa Pipeline in Mumbai city being demolished in pursuance of the order dated 14.10.2009 of this Court in PIL No. 140/2006.

(3.) The Eversmile PAP colony is located upon land originally demarcated to be a No-Development Zone in the Draft Development Plan of 1984. These lands had been acquired by the State Government on account of being surplus under the Urban Land Ceiling Act, 1976, and in 1990, was exempt under Section 20 of the Act by the State Government for the construction of residential quarters for the staff of BPCL. Accordingly, the zoning of the land was altered in the Development Plan of the city to allow residential constructions. However, BPCL ultimately chose not to construct its staff quarters on the site where the PAP colony presently lies, eventually resulting in the State Government modifying its order of exemption under Section 20 of the Urban Land Ceiling Act to be for the rehabilitation of Slum dwellers and PAPs, at the request of the Slum Rehabilitation Department and the Developer of the PAP colony.