Bombay High Court Halts Allocation of 80 Transit Flats by MHADA

MUMBAI: In a significant relief to over 35 former mill workers of the Bombay Dyeing Mill, the Bombay High Court has stayed the allocation of 80 transit tenements within an MHADA project arising from the redevelopment of the mill land at Prabhadevi and Wadala.

The court’s decision follows a petition filed by a group of former mill workers alleging irregularities, including claims of “double allotment” of flats.

The petitioners stated that Bombay Dyeing Mill (Spring Mill) in Wadala had handed over 33,000 square meters of land to MHADA on December 9, 2014.

Within this parcel, 5,136 flats were reserved for mill workers, as approved by the BMC. According to the petition, MHADA constructed six buildings on one-third of the reserved land designated for mill workers.

While one building, comprising 240 tenements, was still under construction, the mill workers alleged that MHADA planned to allocate only 160 flats to them.

This prompted the petitioners to seek the court’s intervention, requesting that all 240 tenements, including the remaining 80 transit flats, be reserved for mill workers, given the extensive waiting list of applicants.

Under the Development Control Regulations (DCR), one-third of the Bombay Dyeing Mill land is required to be reserved for mill workers.

The petitioners noted that MHADA had constructed 11 buildings, with six reserved for mill workers. The sixth building, containing 240 tenements, includes 80 transit flats intended for mill workers.

The petitioners sought a stay on the allotment of these transit flats until the case is fully heard and decided, highlighting the persistent demand from numerous ex-mill workers on the waiting list.

The High Court issued an order on December 11 after hearing arguments from advocate Meghna Gowalani and additional government pleader Milind More.

A division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Kamal Khata directed that the matter be adjourned to February 5, 2025. Until then, the court has stayed the allocation of 80 transit flats out of the 240 in the building developed by Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

The petitioners, led by 67-year-old Gopal Baburao Shelar and 35 others, had applied for housing under the Bombay Dyeing Manufacturing Co. Ltd mill workers’ housing scheme.

The Bombay Dyeing Mill comprises two properties: the Textile Mill at Prabhadevi and the Spring Mills at Dadar Naigaon in Wadala. Both properties are freehold land owned by the company.

The Spring Mills at Dadar was officially closed on November 25, 2004, after receiving the necessary permissions from the Maharashtra Commissioner of Labour.

The petition has named several respondents, including the State of Maharashtra, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), the Secretary of the Housing Department, Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Company Ltd (Spring Mills), BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

The High Court has directed the petitioners to provide spare copies of their petition to the HC registry within two weeks, failing which the petition could be dismissed. The case is scheduled for its next hearing in February 2025.