Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act, 1966: s.126 – Acquisition of land reserved under the Development Plan for public purposes – Issuance of Transferable Development Rights Certificate against the area of land acquired or surrendered by the land owners – On facts, appellants-land owners agreed to surrender the subject land to the respondent No.3-Corporation and opted for grant of TDR – Said land was reserved for the purpose of a park in the development plan, however appellant’s case that the subject land was shown as Hill Top/Hill Slope zone in the development plan – Respondent no. 3 completed the acquisition process and agreed to grant TDR @ 100% Floor Space Index-FSI – Complaints regarding grant of excessive TDR – The then Chief Minister of the State cancelled the grant of TDR @ 100% FSI and reduced it to 4% FSI – Writ petition by the appellant – Dismissed by the High Court – On appeal, held: Gross injustice caused to the appellants who had offered their land to the respondent No.3/Corporation on the basis of a Scheme floated by it proposing to acquire land for public purpose and grant TDR to the land owners in lieu of the land – Having decided to award TDR @ 100% FSI to the appellants, later on the respondents reneged from their decision and slashed the offered TDR to 4% FSI on the premise that the appellants could not compare their land with the adjoining lands for claiming residential use since the said land is also in the nature of ‘Hill Top/Hill Slope’ – When to the north and the west of the subject land, residential construction was permissible and till date, the lands falling in ‘Hill Top/Hill Slope’ zone have not been zoned for being put to any use, the appellants cannot be expected to wait – Matter has been lingering in courts for over eighteen years and there have been several rounds of litigation – Land remained in the possession of the respondent No.3/Corporation all along, thereby not only depriving the appellants of its use but also depriving them of the compensation to which they were entitled as long back as in the year 2004 – In ordinary course, this court would have been inclined to restore the TDR granted to the appellants – However, keeping in mind that extensive construction has mushroomed in Pune over the past two decades and additional construction of over seven lakhs sq. feet, if permitted, would cause a severe strain on the civic amenities available in the city – Respondent Nos.3 and 4/Corporation directed to return the land to the appellants and compensate them @ Rs.1 crore per year for the loss caused by surrendering per 66,000 sq. mts. of land way back in the year 2004 – Development Control Regulations – Regn N-2.4.5.
Friends Colony Development Committee v. State of Orissa and Others (2004) 8 SCC 733 : [2004] 5 Suppl. SCR 818 – referred to.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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