The Bombay High Court has refused to grant relief to a developer accused of delaying a housing redevelopment project in Mumbai’s Kalachowkie area for nearly 18 years, emphasising that owning a home involves emotional investment as well as financial commitment.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna said developers must recognise the “hope and aspiration” associated with homeownership and fulfil their legal responsibilities within a reasonable timeframe.
“Besides the hard-earned money that is put in for a house in Mumbai, there is an investment of emotions, feelings and sentiments attached to having a home in their city of dreams, which cannot be procrastinated. In such context, developers have a huge responsibility cast upon them in law to ensure that their obligation in terms of handing over possession of the flats through a redevelopment scheme or otherwise is done in a timely manner,” the judges observed in an order passed on Monday.
Dispute Over Parijat Housing Society Project
The court was hearing a petition filed by Om Shanti Properties (OSP), which had secured the redevelopment contract for Parijat Cooperative Housing Society, comprising 181 members, in 2008. The developer challenged the society’s termination notice dated February 11, 2025, seeking restoration of the project.
The redevelopment covers two buildings, a chawl, 19 garages, two temples, a gymnasium and two godowns.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) issued a show-cause notice in 2017 over the developer’s inaction and terminated the contract in July 2018. OSP was permitted to resume the project in February 2019 after paying ₹27.68 crore. The developer had reportedly agreed to exit if the project was not completed by 2022.
With little progress after 2020, the civic body considered further action, including termination of the letter of intent and blacklisting. Although OSP signed permanent alternative accommodation agreements with society members in June 2024, the society ended the development agreement in 2025 and appointed another developer in September 2026.
Court Stresses Timely Completion
OSP argued that delays also involved decisions by the society and BMC. However, the society maintained that prolonged defaults justified its decision to change developers.
The court observed that prolonged redevelopment delays “not only augment the plight of the tenants, flat owners, occupiers or beneficiaries of a redevelopment scheme, but also defeat the purpose which the law in this regard intends to achieve”.
It ruled that the society could not be forced to continue with OSP, adding that projects offering commercial benefits and incentives such as additional FSI “ought not to be procrastinated indefinitely, on some pretext or the other”.
Source: Hindustan Times
