Mumbai: Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) will now issue notices to private landowners and allow them to raise objections at a hearing before notifying slums on their lands for initiation of rehabilitation schemes.So far, only a notification would be issued if a private land was deemed to be a slum area and the process of rehabilitation then initiated.Last year, Bombay HC directed SRA to explain how privately owned land could be declared as a slum under Slum Rehabilitation Act merely on the grounds that an adjoining land has been declared as a slum. SC, too, upheld an HC judgment saying the law provides a preferential right to the landlord to redevelop the slum area.As per a new notification issued by SRA, before any declaration of a slum under Section 3C of Maharashtra Slum Areas Act on private land, the landowners will be served with a written notice informing them of the proposed declaration and inviting their objections. They will get 30 days to respond and will be given an opportunity for a personal hearing before the SRA CEO in that period. A public notice will also be issued.“There are several slums in Mumbai existing on private lands as well as on lands owned by public authorities. SRA has declared several such slums as slum areas under Section 4 of the Act… Moreover, the land owning authority and SRA have censused slum structures and protected structures have been issued photo passes. It is considered necessary, in the interest of natural justice, fairness and transparency, to ensure that private landowners are duly informed and heard before any declaration under Section 3C is issued,” SRA CEO Mahindra Kalyankar said in the notification.Officials said Section 4 allows for declaration of land occupied by slumdwellers as “slum area”. They said in 2022, SRA issued a notification stating that land occupied by slums as on Jan 1, 2011, shall be deemed to be slum rehabilitation area under Section 3C for the purpose of implementation of slum rehabilitation schemes.“With the new notification, the deemed provision has been removed and private landowners will now have some say in slum rehabilitation by way of being able to submit suggestions/objections and be heard. There were HC orders also directing that private slum landowners be given a say and they will be involved or aware of the slum rehabilitation plan,” an official said.Slumdwellers occupying structures that existed as on Jan 1, 2000, are entitled to free rehabilitation and those in structures that came up since then till Jan 1, 2011, can be rehabilitated subject to payment of a premium, said officials.
