The Bombay High Court has imposed a fine of INR 5 lakh on developer Lashkaria Housing & Infrastructure for deliberately delaying the implementation of a slum rehabilitation scheme in Jogeshwari (West) for over five to six years. The court upheld the removal of Lashkaria as the developer and directed that the fine amount be paid to Tata Memorial Hospital within eight weeks. The court took exception to the fact that the developer tried to misrepresent that it was appointed to carry out the scheme for three plots housing 432 hutments, when it was only appointed for one plot with 120 hutments, thereby wasting judicial time in ascertaining the details.
The Bombay High Court has imposed a fine of INR 5 lakh on developer Lashkaria Housing & Infrastructure for "deliberately" delaying the implementation of a slum rehabilitation scheme in Jogeshwari (West) for over five to six years. The court upheld the removal of Lashkaria as the developer and directed that the fine amount be paid to Tata Memorial Hospital within eight weeks.
The court also took exception to the fact that the developer tried to misrepresent that it was appointed to carry out the slum rehabilitation scheme for three adjacent plots housing 432 hutments, when in reality it was only appointed to redevelop one plot with 120 hutments. The court had to conduct a "microscopic inquiry" to ascertain which specific plot was allotted to the developer, thereby wasting judicial time.
The Court noted that apart from Lashkaria not making any progress in the slum scheme implementation for 5-6 years, its claim before the court regarding being allotted the scheme for rehabilitating all three land portions with 432 structures was found to be false after the court's inquiry.
Initially, the entire project spread across 6,300 square meters involving redevelopment of 432 structures was granted to Hridaya. In June 2018, Sarvodaya Residence SRA CHS (proposed) had applied to remove the earlier developer Hridaya Construction and appoint Lashkaria to redevelop their 120 structures. However, in August 2022, Sarvodaya approached the CRO, SRA seeking removal of Lashkaria as the developer failed to make any progress.
The CEO, SRA issued an order dated August 2023, terminating Lashkaria's appointment. This was challenged at multiple levels. As of now, the High Court was hearing a petition filed by Lashkaria challenging the April 8 order of the Apex Grievance Redressal Committee which upheld the order of the CEO, SRA terminating Lashkaria's appointment.
Lashkaria's counsel Mayur Khandeparkar denied delaying the project, stating that its redevelopment project for 432 structures was approved in July 2021. The developer could not proceed with redevelopment as there was delay by MHADA in deciding eligibility of slum dwellers.
However, SRA advocate Jagdish Reddy maintained that Lashkaria was only granted permission to redevelop 120 structures. Society advocate Cherag Balsara also supported Reddy's arguments and said the developer was deliberately delaying the SRS until it gets approval to redevelop the other two plots as well.
The High Court noted that the original developer Hridaya was appointed to redevelop a larger portion with three plots comprising 432 structures, whereas Lashkaria was appointed only for 120 structures.
The High Court concluded by noting that instead of focusing on redeveloping the 120 structures it was appointed for in a timely manner, Lashkaria seemed more interested in expanding the scope of the project to include the additional land portions. This intentional delay violated the rights of the slum dwellers to timely rehabilitation. The fine imposed is hoped to deter other developers from such malpractices in future slum rehabilitation schemes.
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