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Jaffar Ali Nawab Ali Chaudhari & Ors. vs. The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai

SLP(C) · 2023 INSC 983Decided 6 Nov 2023
SLP(C) No. 4441 of 2020
Vikram Nath · Rajesh Bindal

Background

The appellants had been in possession of a plot in Mumbai since 1976, and the property had even been assessed to municipal tax. Starting in 2001, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai issued a series of notices seeking to evict them under municipal law. A civil suit filed by the appellants' predecessor was decreed in their favour by the trial court in 2011, holding the eviction notices illegal, but the Bombay High Court reversed that decree on the Corporation's appeal.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that since the appellants' long-standing possession since 1976 was undisputed, and a Town Planning Scheme notified in 1994 (along with subsequent circulars) required the claims of such occupants to be considered for rehabilitation or compensation, the appellants' claim could not simply be brushed aside. Rather than sending the parties back into fresh litigation, the Court allowed the appeal, set aside the High Court's judgment, and directed the Corporation to actually consider the appellants' claim for either an alternative site or monetary compensation under the Town Planning Scheme, within three months.

Lesson Learnt

Long-term occupants displaced by a government planning or development scheme are entitled to have their rehabilitation or compensation claim genuinely examined by the authority. Courts can step in to compel that consideration rather than leaving citizens to face repeated eviction notices without resolution.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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