Land Precious Material Resource, State Should Be Transparent In Distribution: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the Maharashtra government over the land allotment to a proposed housing society, saying it was precious material resource and therefore the least required of the state was transparency in its distribution. A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah set aside the order of the Bombay High Court which refused to interfere in the allotment of the land.

The top court said the entire history of how the plot came to be allotted to Medinova Regal Cooperative Housing Society (MRCHS) showed "nepotism and favouritism" for a society not even eligible for allotment in the first place. "Land is a precious material resource of the community and therefore the least which is required from the state is transparency in its distribution. In our opinion, therefore there has been a complete arbitrariness in the allotment in favour of MRCHS," it said.

The top court went on, "As far as the present appellant is concerned, its case for allotment of a plot is a matter which is yet to be decided by the authorities, but the allotment of the plot in favour of MRCHS is not proper, as it is violative of the procedure as well as eligibility criteria." The bench said perusal of the records showed not a single member of the society, was a doctor at Tata Memorial Hospital.

"Leave aside a doctor, not one member is an employee of Tata Memorial Hospital which was the projection earlier and for which the plot was sought to be allotted," the apex court said. The composition of this society has also now completely changed from the original one, it added.

The top court said if the land was allotted under the discretionary powers of the government, it was necessary to give reasons in writing as to why such allotment was made in favour of a particular society.

"Since there has to be transparency in matters of allotment of land by the government, adherence to the above rules and regulations becomes important in the cases of allotment, but unfortunately, all this is completely missing in the present case where allotment was made in favour of MRCHS in total violation of the prescribed procedure," the bench said.

MRCHS, a proposed housing society, applied to the chief minister of Maharashtra for allotment of a plot at Bandra in 2000. It was mentioned in their application that the members of applicant society worked in Tata Memorial Centre, a leading hospital and cancer research institute, and the members did not own any house, despite living in Maharashtra for 20 years or so.

Further, they said they had been residing at places, which were at far from their workplace and therefore travelling was difficult and time consuming. As doctors they had to reach the hospital in time in order to respond to emergencies, it was argued, while requesting for the allotment.