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Sayunkta Sangharsh Samiti & Anr. vs The State of Maharashtra & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 1080Decided 15 Dec 2023
Civil Appeal No. 1359 of 2023
Aniruddha Bose · Sudhanshu Dhulia

Background

A Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme in Lower Parel, Mumbai, was to rehabilitate slum dwellers across nine towers, requiring at least 70% of eligible hutment dwellers to form a single cooperative society under SRA rules. A minority group of slum dwellers, who were unhappy with delays, formed a separate breakaway society ("Sayunkta Sangharsh Samiti") and privately struck a Memorandum of Understanding with the project developer, promising them preferential allotment of three specific towers, without SRA's knowledge or approval. When SRA later decided to allot flats in those towers by lottery under its own official circular, the breakaway society challenged this in the Bombay High Court and lost, then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the Bombay High Court's ruling. It held that slum rehabilitation schemes are not purely private contractual arrangements. They are "impressed with a public character" because they involve public land and are governed by statutory Development Control Regulations, so a private side-deal between a developer and a minority splinter group cannot override SRA's official allotment procedure (allotment by draw of lots, per Circular No. 162 of 2015). The Court found the earlier MoU and consent decree troubling because SRA was deliberately kept out of that private civil litigation, allowing an arrangement to be engineered "at the back of SRA." It directed SRA to proceed with the lottery-based allotment as per law and asked SRA to examine whether the developer should face consequences for this bypass of statutory procedure.

Lesson Learnt

Private agreements, even ones formalized through a court consent decree, cannot override a public statutory scheme like slum rehabilitation; only the designated public authority's own rules and procedures can validly govern allotment of such public-interest housing.

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

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