file photo Mumbai: Coming to the aid of a 76-year-old former man mill workerThe Bombay High Court Canceled an order of 2019 of Mumbai Housing Board under Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority ,MHADA) who canceled his allotment residential unit This meant for former mill workers as they could not pay the initial 10% amount on time.
Was in rehabilitation project Lower ParelPrakash Cotton Mill premises, and the High Court had criticized the state for not considering the hardships faced by the former senior citizen mill worker and many others like him.
Directing them to hand over the flats, Justice Madhav Jamdar underlined how Development Control Regulation (DCR) 58 was amended in 2001 to provide residential premises for former mill workers on the mill land.
Justice Jamdar said it was “well known” that these provisions of the DCR 1991 and DCPR 2034 were made for the welfare of the mill workers who suffered from the textile mills strike in 1982, where many lost their jobs and His service dues were not even paid. paid. “Thus, these provisions amount to welfare policies,” Justice Jamdar said.
The High Court directed that authorities who implement welfare laws or schemes to protect the interests of the marginalized must adopt a pragmatic approach. “The state and MHADA should be flexible.”
Shamrao Kamble filed a petition in 2022 challenging MHADA’s cancellation of his allotment and rejection of his request for a reasonable time for payment. Mhada said no extension was allowed as it was unable to pay the initial Rs 95,000 as 10% of the final price on time.
The former mill employee was allotted a flat in a lottery held in May 2016 for mill workers, but had to be shifted to Kolhapur as he failed to pay Rs 9.5 lakh under a provisional letter in May 2018 due to his allotment. Was cancelled.
In August, the High Court passed interim orders enabling him to deposit the entire amount with MHADA, which he did, and subject to the court’s final order in his petition, possession was immediately handed over to him.
Last month, in its final judgment, the High Court said it is mandatory for mill land owners to rehabilitate mill workers free of cost and construct flats for mill workers and hand them over to MHADA.
The new Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR) 2034 – Town Plan for the City – under Regulation 35 also provides for development and redevelopment of cotton textile mill land and providing new houses in the same premises to the former mill workers living there.
The law also provides for a lottery system for other mill workers to get houses from the stock of flats to be given to MHADA by the mill owner under the comprehensive mill land redevelopment scheme.
The High Court said a former mill employee was getting premises worth over Rs 1 crore, but he was unable to collect even Rs 95,000 as 10% of the final price within 45 days, which was clearly against him. Reflects “precarious financial situation”. He had to shift to a remote area of Kolhapur, the high court said.
Justice Jamdar said that the approach of the state authorities in implementing beneficial provisions for the rehabilitation of mill workers “needs to be liberal, practical and to protect the interests of the mill workers and ensure their rehabilitation”.
