August 19, 2025: The Bombay High Court has strongly criticised the state social welfare department for obstructing the redevelopment of a dangerously weak 50-year-old building in Kannamwar Nagar, Vikhroli East. The court warned that departmental officers would be held personally accountable if any untoward incident occurred.
A division bench of Justices G.S. Kulkarni and Arif Doctor directed the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) to clear the redevelopment proposal of Yug Pravartak Cooperative Housing Society, which accommodates 20 families, within 15 days. The bench further clarified that Mhada must not insist on a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the social welfare department.
The judges expressed “shock and surprise” at the stay imposed by the department’s assistant commissioner, particularly when a nearby building had already collapsed—killing 19 residents—while another had tilted.
The Yug Pravartak Cooperative Housing Society, formed in 1975 for war-rehabilitated residents, was built with a loan from the Maharashtra Co-operative Housing Finance Society, which has since been fully repaid. A deed of reconveyance was executed in 2006. Despite this, in July 2024, the social welfare department denied redevelopment permission, citing government resolutions from 1998 and 2023 restricting the redevelopment of societies for backward-class members or war-rehabilitation beneficiaries.
Rejecting this reasoning, the bench observed that applying such resolutions retrospectively was unlawful. “The petitioner is in dire need of redevelopment, as there is every likelihood that the building would collapse, as suffered by other buildings in the vicinity. There cannot be any retrospective application of the Government Resolutions of the year 1998 and 2023,” the court stated.
Highlighting that most residents are senior citizens, the court stressed that the project could not be delayed any further. Mhada has been ordered to grant the necessary approvals within 15 days to facilitate early redevelopment.
Source: Hindustan Times
