The Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld Regulation 17(3)(D)(2) of the Development Control and Promotion Regulations, (DCPR) 2034, which provided rehabilitation for slum dwellers on encroached lands reserved as ‘open spaces’ under the DCPR 2034.
The Division Bench of Justice Amit Borkar and Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan observed that in a city where inequality was visible in how space and services were distributed, providing formal housing to slum dwellers within the city and not on its outskirts, was a step towards real equality.
The regulation aimed to reduce the gap between the formally housed and the informally settled population. Only lands encroached by slum dwellers with a minimum of 500 square meters were eligible for rehabilitation schemes. The rule allowed only 65 percent of such land for rehabilitation while 35 percent was reserved for open spaces like gardens, parks and recreational grounds, added the Division Bench.
It said the regulation achieved the twin goals of rehabilitating slum dwellers humanely without rendering them shelterless, and recovering a portion of the public land for its original purpose by ensuring that a part thereof is retained as open space under mandatory prescription.
The High Court rejected the argument of the petitioners that the persons who had encroached upon public open spaces were being ‘rewarded’ under the regulation, whereas the citizens who followed planning laws were left with reduced access to recreational areas.
It said the argument was based more on a sense of morality than on a proper constitutional foundation.