Trust gets land back

The Supreme Court (SC) has directed the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) to return 40 acres of land to the F. E. Dinshaw Trust headed by industrialist Nusli Wadia (pictured), noted The Times of India (ToI) dated September 28, 2018. The parcel of land was in the possession of the BMC since 1974. The state government had failed to complete acquisition proceedings for over 45 years (see "F. E. Dinshaw’s estate,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, June 7, 2018). A bench of SC Justices Rohinton Nariman and Indu Malhotra dismissed the BMC’s special leave petition challenging a Bombay High Court (BHC) order directing the BMC to hand over the land to the Trust.
The parcel of land was part of a 1973 proposal of the Maharashtra state government to acquire 587 acres from the Trust for the expansion of the Aarey Milk Colony. While in 1974, the BMC took possession of 556 acres for construction of roads and pipelines, around 515 acres were returned to the Trust. The BMC retained 40 acres but failed to complete acquisition proceedings, noted ToI. While in 1985 it was agreed that the Corporation would acquire the land by making part payment of Rs 20 per sq m (approximately Rs 33 lakhs for the 40 acres in question), proceedings were stalled as both the BMC and the government failed to take any steps.

F. E. Dinshaw

The prime land parcel was initially meant for housing for the needy. In the draft Development Plan 2034, the plot was de-reserved for a municipal school and for rehabilitation and settlement of project-affected persons, noted the news report. "It is well settled that mere exchange of correspondence between BMC and the state proposing to take steps for acquisition of the said land or the subsequent reservation of the said land… which is a different public purpose than that for which (it) was to be acquired cannot revive the lapsed reservation,” the BHC bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Riyaz Chagla had noted in their May 2018 order.