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Slum regularisation: State moves SC Rakshit Sonawane THE Maharashtra governmenthas moved theSupreme Court (SC) against an order of the MumbaiHigh Court (HC) which had asked the government not to extend the deadline for regularisation of slums from1995 to 2000. The case isslated for hearing in the SC on Wednesday. The State has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the SC on the issue, challengingthe HC order ontechnical grounds. The SLP was filed on February 15, afteradvocate-general RaviKadam advised the stategovernment to request theSC to set aside the HC order. The State had the optionof filing a review petitionin the HC, but theadvocate-general preferredmoving the SC. The State's gesture comesin the wake of a judgementof a HC bench comprisingJustice F I Rebello and JusticeD Y Chandrachud threemonths ago. While dismissinga petition on the state'spolicy on transfer of developmentalright (TDR), theHC bench had mentionedthat since slums were proliferatingin the metropolis thepolicy to extend the deadlineof regularising themwas not proper. The benchobserved that slums whichhad come up after 1995 (the last deadline) shouldnot be regularised.The HC order had sentshockwaves in the corridorsof power in the Democratic Front (DF) government asthe ruling Congress partyhad promised to extend thedeadline of regularising slums from 1995 to 2000 inits election manifesto for theAssembly polls of 2004. The government's objection to the HC order was that the bench which gavethe order did not have thematter of slum regularisationwith it. The bench wasruling on a petition filed onTDR. On the other hand,another HC bench of ChiefJustice H S Bedi was hearinga separate case on slums andthe case is pending.As per the directives ofthe HC bench of Chief JusticeH S Bedi, the governmenthas formed a committeeheaded by chiefsecretary D K Sankaran tojustify the extension of thedeadline. While filing the SLP inthe SC, the State hasclaimed that the HC's orderwas a violation of judicialpropriety and prayed thatthe order be set aside, a seniorofficial said. URL : http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=225466 |
