HC restricts sale of flats of six buildings in Kandivli

Mumbai, Oct 11 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today restricted the sale of flats of six buildings under construction at V P Road, Kandivli, until further orders.

A division bench, comprising justices R M Lodha and S A Bobde, were hearing a public interest litigation filed by Akhil Bharatiya Bhrashtachar Nirmoolan alleging that 75 per cent of the flats were sold at exorbitant prices, in violation of a government circular passed on December 29, 1990.

According to the circular, 25 per cent of the flats were to be sold to people from the economically weaker section while for the rest, there was a formula to arrive at the prices. The formula allowed five times the rate of the land compensation under the Urban Land (Ceiling&Regulation) Act (ULCA) plus cost of construction and 15 per cent profit on the sum of the earlier two.

An affidavit by Principal Secretary, Urban Development (Home), has confirmed the petitioner's allegation. The court, therefore, appointed a chartered accountant to scrutinise the accounts of the sale transactions of the 75 per cent flats and submit a report by January 15.

The court also appointed a court commissioner to visit the site and submit a report in one month on the status of construction of the six buildings that is currently under progress.

The Public Works Department has also been directed to submit a report indicating the cost of construction of the said buildings by January 17 when the case will be heard next.

The case pertains to 163 acres of land initially bought by one J Pereira in 1942. Under the ULCA notification, government declared 105 acres as surplus in 1986. While exempting 48 acres on condition that the land be used for building flats for economically backward sections of the society, the government directed that 57 acres be handed over to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) for low-cost housing projects.

However, the petitioner has alleged that only 43 acres of land were handed over. The petitioner has alleged that the developers violated the conditions under ULCA and sold the flats at exorbitant rates in the market.

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