MUMBAI: The Bombay High court on Tuesday allowed a handful of slum dwellers from Siddharth Nagar in Chembur to challenge the appointment of Ruparel Buildcon to undertake a slum rehabilitation project on a 66,000-square-meter state government plot of land before the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) or some other appropriate statutory forum.
The division bench of Justice Girish Kulkarni and Justice Dr Neela Gokhale also directed that the matter be referred to the state government if a new developer needed to be appointed in case the SRA held it necessary to remove Ruparel Buildcon. It also ordered the SRA CEO to ensure that no developer was appointed by any of the 33 societies of slum dwellers or their federation.
The bench passed its order on a bunch of petitions and intervention applications. The main petition had been filed by Ruparel Buildcon, challenging the validity of a February 4, 2026 communication issued by the SRA secretary, staying the Letter of Intent in its favour, and restraining SRA officials from granting any further permissions/ approvals for the project.
Ruparel Buildcon was appointed by the federation of slum dwellers’ societies. The appointment was approved by the SRA on March 25, 2021, and on August 6, 2021, the Authority sanctioned Annexure-III certifying the developer’s financial capacity and eligibility to undertake the scheme. A Letter of Intent (LOI) dated August 6, 2021 was issued, appointing Ruparel Buildcon based on the consent of 823 out of 1,520 eligible slum dwellers. On August 13, 2021, an Intimation of Approval (IOA) was issued by the SRA approving the construction of eight rehab buildings with 3,153 tenements and 96 amenity spaces.
Although there had been an inordinate delay in executing the slum scheme originally envisaged in 2006, some slum dwellers filed intervention applications and petitions, claiming that the Federation had not taken their consent while appointing Ruparel Buildcon.
After hearing lengthy arguments from both sides, the court held that it was up to the slum dwellers and their societies to approach the CEO of the SRA, invoking Section 13 of the Maharashtra Slums Act, or to take recourse to some other appropriate legal remedies to question Ruparel Buildcon’s appointment. However, it added that if the CEO or any other statutory authority set aside Ruparel Buildcon’s appointment, Clause 1.15 of the DCPR 33(10) would be triggered and the slum scheme would have to be handed over to the state government to appoint its own developer.
Observing that Siddharth Nagar was “a classic case where the redevelopment of the slum has been delayed for almost 20 years”, the court said, “It is high time the situation as brought about in the present proceedings, namely, of inter se conflicts between the societies of slum dwellers and the developer, becomes a relic of the past.”
The judges said that considering the nature of the “horse-trading” that takes place in slum rehabilitation schemes, “the state government and other public bodies shall take over the redevelopment of slum schemes on their lands, as may be permissible in law, so that the slum-dwellers do not adversely suffer being entangled in litigation with developers.” This, they said, would ensure that the redevelopment of slums on public land remained in the control of the government and / or public bodies.
