In 1956 Government of Maharashtra reserved land in Mumbai for forests and acquired private lands adjoining the National Park from private parties. What it failed to do was to amend the land records changing the user and purpose of the land so acquired.
The same land was then sold once again by the owners to private builders. Therefore logic says that the land owners were very much aware that their land has been acquired and classified as Forest Land by the government of Maharashtra. They thus committed a fraud on the builders and developers who acquired these plots of lands. It goes without saying that most of the so called builders and developers must be aware of the status of these plots as it is their profession's calling to ensure that they develop on land that is free from all litigation. But, because they had a pliant bureaucracy at their disposal and the cost was peanuts, they decided to take their chances.
Today more than 500,000 families risk losing their homes due to the sharp practices of builders and acts of omission and commission of the local governing body. This is because of the ruling against such buildings given by the Bombay High Court.
The question is should these buildings remain or go. As this directly affects the future of 500,000 families one would take a sympathetic view of the situation and seek some kind of regularization of the buildings. But does such an approach do justice to the other residents of the city? Should the government not punish the original land owners who committed a fraud on the builders and developers? Should the builders and developers not be punished for constructing even when being completely aware of the fate that awaited such development?
My take on the issue is that all these buildings should go. The builders and developers who constructed on such deemed forest land should be penalized by asking them to provide free housing of the same size to the affected residents. Government should provide land at alternate place for such development free of cost and residents should not be asked to pay for the cost of construction.
Forest land should be restored. If the government takes the above route, it will send a strong message to all people concerned. Builders and developers will be forced to take a hit on the massive profits they have made at the cost of the state and no one will ever dare to break the law.
The suggestion of the government of date of creating forest elsewhere in the state is a futile suggestion. Then why not use the entire National Park for housing and create forest some where else Mr. Chief Minister?
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14 comments:
Mr. Vinod,
Your logic is correct, till you say that original owners & builders were aware of forest land issues and still sold and developed the area.
However, once it comes to innocent common man who has purchased a dream home in such sites, what happens to him / her??
Enough is enough. Now the government should strictly notify the areas which fall under forest land and prohibit development in these areas. However for those areas which are already converted to "Dream homes" the government should sympathize with the innocent public and spare them!!
Dear Anonymous,
Perhaps you did not read the entire post. What I have suggested is that the buyers who have been duped should be provided alternate same size accommodation at a near by site. This should be constructed by the builder / developer who sold the property in the same place. Land should be made available free of cost by the government as it is at fault too.
At the same time a precedent should be set by demolishing all these buildings such that such events do not take place ever again.
Regards
Vinod Chand
Dear Vinod,
I dont agree with you !
First of all, Where was this Govt all these years when all this construction took place. Secondly, There is no proper system in the Govt with regards to mapping of the land covering under forest area. Thirdly, seeing the over growing population they should consider the area of residence. Mumbai is so crowded, absolute no space- what do u have to say about this ? If the 1956 rule still stands for the present times, then I must tell u that our country is still living in the Past they need to update. Honestly speaking,nobody really cares actually for the environment , everyone is out to make money from top to bottom .Since the real estate is booming big time they have awaken suddenly. I feel the common man should not suffer for the fault of the Govt. So its not the developer...this question shud be on the govt authorities first ...where were they when they had to monitor the forest land.
It makes no sense to demolish the bldgs now. CM is right that he will fine these developments and with this money they will allocate another land for forest.
Very Logical decision taken by the CM.
Thanks,
Ash
Let me answer your questions one by one.
You say where was the government all these years while the construction was happening?
My answer is that the people in the bureaucracy were the direct beneficiaries of this fraud therefore they choose to keep quite. I am certain that all the parties to the tangle were definitely hand in glove till the whole problem was transferred to the poor buyers of these properties.
To answer your second question, even if a proper system of mapping was available it would still have been violated as vested interests were at work.
Third, the need for Mumbai to grow can not be argued about, but growth at what cost? Should it be at the cost of others? When you destroy fragile eco-systems you invite wrath of nature as was witnessed in July 2005 when almost entire Mumbai was submerged under water. This essentially due to tinkering with the mangroves and natural flow of water into the sea done by the builders and developers with connivance of city planners.
If a rule was created in 1956, it must have indeed been with a great vision. To say that rules should change with time is correct but who will decide what should change and what should not? I think rules that are no longer required should be deleted, rules that benefit a small percentage of people should be changed and rules that benefit a large number of people should be strengthened.
I agree that there will be colossal loss of money, but it will be to the account of the builders and the government both of whom are responsible for the mess.
I agree that most of this happened because of corruption in various departments of the government and the reason was profit alone at the cost of gullible buyers. But to endorse the decision of the Chief Minister is inviting trouble for such precedents will only make people flout the law.
In the end, I hope good sense prevails and a just and amicable solution is found to the problem
Regards
Vinod Chand
Mr. Vinod,
I agree with your logic completely if this were an ideal world. Unfortunately it is not. We continue to create a concrete jungle all over the country without any sympathy or great vision towards nature. To say it is ok to cut trees and come up with new buildings all over the rest of Mumbai and not over certain land that nobody knew (including the government) was reserved as forest land until 2006 is not correct.
Imagine the effort in terms of time, money and energy it will take to relocate 500,000+ families to a new location after contruction of 1.5 lakh new houses on an alternate land. It will take decades to complete such a project.
An easier and less expensive approach would be to plant new trees over the alternate land (which must be paid for by the crooks involved). Nature does not care where you plant new trees or create new jungles.
I agree that we need to clean the system, and create an example for the future, but how far are we willing to go? How exactly do you propose find and go after all those crooks both within and outside the government who have cheated innocent people for the past 40 years over this issue.
My point is that if we were to use your logic we would give a clean chit to the government for sleeping for 40 years, spend crores of rupees and end up punishing the aam admi.
You did not read me right.
I am not in favour of giving a clean chit to the government. In fact, the courts are most likely going to take the government to task for its lapses. As a penalty maybe the courts will ask the government to clean up this entire mess at their own cost! But that will happen in due course of time.
While I agree that the demolishing of buildings will be a regressive step and lead to huge losses, in my personal opinion I still feel that it is something that ought to be done to prevent recurrence of events.
Recent reports now indicate that more than 200 hectares of land in Vasai, Thane and adjoining areas has also been constructed upon even in the face of clear cut notices issued by the local government. Builders continued to build even when they knew that the land on which buildings were coming up are forest lands. Please check the DNA of 27th March to find out more.
What then should be done when faced with such information? Should these buildings be also regularized? Should the government protect these willful defaulters too? I think the supreme court is seized of the matter and better sense should prevail.
I watch the developments with bated breath.
Vinod,
Whats wrong with you? in many cases even the builders were not aware of the problem till very late. You can't have one arm of the goverment enforcing the law and the other arm allowing construction in the first place. It's the error on part of the government and since forest land cannot be now restored irrespective of bulldozers, the only alternative solution is a fine and developing a forest land elsewhere. Innocent flat owners who have saved up a life time to own their dream homes cannot be made to undergo a tortourous wait, irrespective of "who will teach whom a lesson".. get it??
Dear Anon,
Nothing wrong with me!
Are you a builder who has constructed on such a piece of land? Or are you an unfortunate purchaser of such a property?
Anyway, as the Supreme Court of India is seized of the matter and as the Government of Maharashtra is making the right noises about protecting the builders (sic) and the poor purchasers, I don't think you have anything to worry about.
But just to update you on the ground reality, flats in such projects are available at a discount of 20 to 30% today (5-4-2008) as I write this reply. And Government has stopped registering new sale deeds while banks have withdrawn loans already sanctioned. Look who is worried!
You seem to have never heard the dictum 'Caveat Emptor' Buyer Beware. As much as the seller is persuasive about selling the property, it also becomes the responsibility of the buyer to ensure that all is well with what he is buying.
Anyway, you are entitled to your opinion and I to mine.
Thanks for sending your comments and visiting my blog.
US is a far off place for you to monitor the developments that happen in Bombay. Do let me know if I can be of any help to you in the issue concerned.
1. View taken by Government prior to 2001 BEAG was that land less than 12 Hector was taken out of the preview of Maharashtra private forest acquisition act 1978 and no mutation was carried out in other rights of 7/12 favouring forest.
2. Now suddenly view of Government changed in 2002, they say that even such land is "private forest" because of 24 A of Maharashtra private forest acquisition act. How can land restored prior to Forest conservation act 1980, be forest when in most of the case only notice was issued under 35 (3) of Indian forest act,1927.
3. Revenue department has changed other right of 7/12 in case of confirmation of notice under 35(3) of indian forest act, 1927
4. Most of the land acquired under MPFA,1975 belonged to small farmer holding less than 12 Hetors and only notice issued under IFA 1927.
Just because government has no back bone it has put life of citizens of not only of mumbai but of whole maharashtra in the line of fire. After all government is for the people and by the people. Forest comes second, people of this country come first. We have elected this government to better lives of people living in maharashtra
Dear Virendarpal,
I really do not know the technical details of the case.
I am sure the learned High Court must have applied its mind while passing its order on the forest land issue.
If something wrong has been done procedurally I am sure the Supreme Court of India will set that right.
I agree that the purchasers were never at fault. It is the builders and the land owners who have taken advantage of the situation in connivance of government officials who were in the know.
The reason I advocate the removal of these buildings is to drive home a point that such corrupt practices should be punished with a heavy hand to ensure no one ever dares to bypass the law. All this should be done at the cost of the government, builders and landowners while protecting the interest of the purchasers who are the victims in this case.
I am sure the Supreme Court of India will find the right solution to the problem.
Thanks for writing.
Dear Vinod,
The article was nice...but throughout this episode i did not see anything to do with the Banks / lending institutions who instead of knowing gave approval for all this project. What implication the court should have on these banking institutions.
Second like Supreme Court showed the maturity of stopping the further sale of flats and creation of third party rights..why high court was not matured enough to give such interim order not to create the third party right when the projects were in initial phases. what implication should be there for the immaturity of high court...if you read the interim relief it is not showing the concern for innocent people as was understood by supreme court in their order dated 25th April 2007.
Regards
Anunymous
Dear Vinod,
The article was nice...
You have given the scheme to penalise the Government and Builders…why did you leave Banks and even High Court.
but throughout this episode i didn’t see anything relating with the Banks / lending institutions that approved all those projects. What implication should be imposed by the court on these banking institutions?
When the banks approve the funding for a project common mass assume that the bank has checked thoroughly.
In India even in Mumbai we have been reading news about people been beaten in case of defaulting to repay bank the loan instalments. On such project shouldn’t the bank be penalised. Are they not responsible?
if you read the interim relief that was given by Bombay High court you will observe that there is no sense of maturity with regards to common people who will be hit the most. The urgency and gravity of the matter was understood by Supreme Court which was reflected in the order dated 25th April 2007 whereby no further selling of flats was stopped and no third party rights shall be created henceforth. Interim orders were given by High Court during the initial phase of the project had they shown the similar maturity good number of families would have been saved.
What implications should be there High Court rulings..
In the end some more food for thought.. do you think with the current status and power that the Builders enjoy is common man having any say.. Corruption is so deep rooted here that Builders, Politicians, Banks etc. all are washing there hands to the fullest..
Regards
Basically, the trouble mongers are the South Mumbai Armchair "Intelluctuals" who like to see their name in print. I would like somebody to look into the "Environmental" issues connected with the Backbay reclamation. I am sure there are lots of illegalities in it. Let us declare the entire Nariman point as illegal construction and "relocate" them elsewhere.
I wish to meet one of these self-righteous men who have made the lives of lakhs of innocent people miserable, and give him a piece of my mind and perhaps something else as well.
Dear Anonymous,
When you say trouble mongers, do you mean all people who fight for environmental protection are doing it just for getting their name in print?
I am sure you are aware about the grave consequences of destroying natures delicate balance. When we reclaim land we are doing just that. Whether this is the wanton destruction of mangroves, dumping of debris into rivers that turn them into gutters or cutting down forests that are the lungs to the city.
If one was to go as per the Chief Ministers suggestion, one can safely destroy the entire forest lying within the National Park and use the same to build houses, would you support this?
I think the critical question is that is the good of a few more important than the good of all? If you apply this test, you will find answers to most of the questions that plague our political system. Like Gandhiji said, when you take any action imagine what will be its impact on the poorest of the poor and if you see that it will benefit him go ahead, you can not go wrong. Our politicians have truly killed Gandhi several times over.
One solution would be just walk away. As Lal Bhadur Shastri used to say, if something is expensive don't buy it. It will automatically become cheap when it finds no buyers.
Thanks for visiting my weblog and posting your comment.
Vinod Chand
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