Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

4. The State of Maharashtra added Regulation 58 in the Development Control Regulations for Greater Mumbai, 1991 with a view to deal with the situation arising out of closure and/or unviability of various cotton textile mills The deteriorating condition of the textile units and need to have open green spaces for public purpose and public housing/ housing for mill workers prompted the Government to have policy to free open mill lands for development and/or redevelopment. Under this policy, the cotton textile mills which were sick and/or closed or wanted to go for modernization were to be granted permission for development and/or redevelopment of its lands for commercial and/or residential user, subject to the condition that after excluding the lands occupied by the existing built up area (and also after excluding the lands becoming open upon demolition of the built up area which was in existence on the date of coming into force of Regulation 58), the remaining open lands would be shared with Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) for public housing/mill workers' housing and with the Municipal Corporation for Greater Mumbai for open green spaces like recreation grounds/ gardens/ play grounds.

includes making layout and demolition of existing structures.

                                                                           12 Of 61


     srk                                   13                                  WP-977- 2010



    (b)         In view of the above, the provisions of Regulations 58(1) and

58(2) apply as soon as the land owner submits lay-out plans which requires a plan to be submitted disclosing a statement indicating the total area of the site area utilised under roads, open spaces for parks, playgrounds, recreation spaces and development plan designations, reservations and other public places [DCR Regulation 5(3)(v)(f)]. A person is also required to furnish a separate building plan which he proposes to construct [Regulation 5(3)(vi) (6)]. A lay-out has to be approved prior to commencement of the construction of the buildings. It is for this reason that the amendment to the Development Control Regulations by Government Notification dated 24 August 2010 specifically provides that notwithstanding anything in Regulation 58(1), the layout of mill land shall be submitted by the mill owner within six months of closure of the mill or within six months of this notification, whichever is later and the lands earmarked for MHADA and Recreation Ground shall be handed over to the concerned authority immediately after the approval of layout.

I. Historical background of Regulation 58

(i) The Development Control Regulations, 1991 effected a general de- industrialization of the city of Mumbai under regulations 56 and 57 by allowing the industrial lands to be freely used for commercial and residential purposes except for land of Cotton Textile Mills, which covered almost 600 acres in the City of Mumbai;

(ii) Regulation 58 gave the same rights to cotton textile mills but with a restriction that in certain circumstances lands would be surrendered for environmentally friendly open spaces and for public housing. Hence, DCR 58 was not framed to give benefits to owners of cotton textile mills but rather to restrict their rights for redevelopment in comparison to other industries in Mumbai. There are historical and geographical reasons for this- the most important being that cotton textiles mills accounted for almost 600 acres in F and G Wards which are in the heart of Mumbai;

62. The controversy before the Supreme Court was that according to the PIL petitioners, even after amendment of 2001, `open lands' of the textile mills included "the lands after demolition of existing structures"

which were deleted by the amendment. The main thrust of the writ 49 Of 61 srk 50 WP-977- 2010 petitioners was to ensure open spaces for the city and to provide for the crying need of space for public housing, it was asserted by the NGO that in terms of the 1991 Regulations, the residents of Mumbai would have got 165 acres of green areas, whereas under the new Regulations (2001), they would get 32 acres of greens (para 284 SCC page 529). The High Court accepted the above contention and held that in amended DCR 58(1)(b), 'open lands' would include lands after demolition of structures, which were existing on the date of coming into force of DCR 1991. The High Court also gave certain other findings against the textile mills with which we are not concerned in the present petition. Hence, the textile-Companies including the present petitioner-company carried the matter before the Supreme Court.