The Hindu : National : ``Sale didn't adhere to BIFR scheme''

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 18, 2005

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National

``Sale didn't adhere to BIFR scheme''

Kalpana Sharma

Definition of ``open lands'' reinterpreted

MUMBAI: Setting aside the recent multi-crore sale of textile mill lands in Mumbai by the National Textile Corporation (NTC), the Bombay High Court on Monday held that it did not adhere to the scheme under the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) under which such sale was permitted.

A public interest litigation filed by the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG) had challenged an amendment to the Development Control Rules (DCR 58) that was originally framed to encourage closed textile mills to redevelop their properties. While the original rule allowed mill owners to develop one-third of the "open lands" and surrender the rest in equal portions for public facilities and public housing, the amendment re-interpreted the definition of "open lands" by holding that these consisted only of those areas where there were no structures. The court disagreed with this interpretation and ruled that "open lands" should include land available after demolition of existing structures. In effect, this means that instead of just 25 acres out of the 600 acres that would have been available for open public spaces, now the city would get up to 200 acres for this purpose.

In the course of the hearings, the court asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to inform it whether constructions on mill lands had received prior environmental clearance. Under a notification of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) of July 2004, all projects of over Rs. 50 crores, or housing more than 1,000 persons, or discharging more than 50,000 litres of sewage had to get prior environmental clearance. The court was informed that none of them had received this clearance. As a result, the MPCB issued "stop work" orders on several constructions. The court remarked on the "casual and lackadaisical" approach of the MPCB and the BMC as well as the Maharashtra Government in this regard and asked that the MoEF conduct public hearings in the city on the environmental aspects of mill redevelopment.

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