Skip to main content

Bombay HC quashes builders’ petitions against low-cost housing quota

 In a boost for the BJP government in Maharashtra, Bombay high court on Thursday dismissed a bunch of petitions challenging a state notification, which required developers or land owners to set aside 20 % of the plot for affordable housing.

Developers had moved the HC contending that the notification amounted to "compulsory acquisition of land" by the state, which it was not empowered to do. A bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and M S Sanklecha upheld the notification's validity in public interest. The challenge to the notification was filed by prominent developer D B Realty and others. Their primary contention was that the government had no power to bring in acquisition of land or rights to the land except under the Land Acquisition Act. The matters were heard at length last year and the state through then advocate-general Darius Khambata put up a stiff fight to justify its decision and oppose the petitions.

Khambata had argued that the state was empowered to permit incidental acquisition under development control rules (DCR). Arguments in court analyzed the DCR in depth and one petitioner also argued that the definition of low-cost and economically weaker section needs to be looked at more closely. The state said the notification allowed either 20% of plot layout to be reserved for low-cost housing or comparable buildable space in form of FSI.

 Article referred: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/HC-quashes-builders-petitions-against-low-cost-housing-quota/articleshow/46137741.cms

Comments

Post a Comment

Most viewed this month

Appellate authorities under Special Statutes cannot be asked to condone delay

Madras High Court in R.Gowrishankar vs. The Commissioner of Service Tax has held that Appellate authorities cannot be asked to condone the delay, beyond the extended period of limitation A Division Bench comprising of Justices S. Manikumar and D. Krishnakumar, made this observation while considering an appeal filed against Single Bench order declining to set aside the order made in the condone delay petition filed by the petitioner to condone 223 days in filing the appeal before the Commissioner of Service Tax (Appeals). Article referred: http://www.livelaw.in/appellate-authorities-special-statutes-cannot-asked-condone-delay-beyond-extended-period-limitation-madras-hc/
Post a Comment
Read more

'Seize assets to pay damages to accident victim'

Her story might be an inspiration for the physically challenged but justice has remained elusive for her. In 2008, a bus accident left research engineer S Thenmozhi, 30, paraplegic. In April 2013, the motor accident claims tribunal directed the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) to provide her a compensation of 57.9 lakh. However, TNSTC refused to budge and on Tuesday a city court ordered attaching of movable assets of the transport corporation. Thenmozhi was employed in C-DOT, a telecom technology development centre in Bangalore. On July 21, 2008, she was coming to Chennai in a private bus. Around 2am, the bus had a flat tyre and the driver parked it on the left side of the road near Pallikonda in Vellore district on the Bangalore-Chennai highway. While the tyre was being changed, a TNSTC bus of Dharmapuri division hit the stationary bus. The rear part of the bus was smashed and passengers were injured. Thenmozhi who had a seat at the back of the bus suffered...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mumbai ITAT rules income of offshore discretionary trust is subject to tax in India

The Mumbai Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has recently determined the following issue in the affirmative in the case of Manoj Dhupelia: Should the income of an offshore discretionary trust be subject to tax in India, if no distributions have been made to beneficiaries in India? The question arose from appeals filed by individual beneficiaries in relation to a Lichtenstein-based trust, the Ambrunova Trust and Merlyn Management SA (the Trust) with the ITAT. It is important to note that the individuals in this case were amongst those first identified by the Government of India (GOI) as holding undeclared bank accounts in Lichtenstein. The ITAT ruling raises the following issues: Taxation of Trust Corpus: ITAT classified the corpus of the trust as "undisclosed income" and declared it taxable in the hands of the beneficiaries. Taxation of Undistributed Income: ITAT refused to draw a distinction between the corpus and undistributed income from the trust and declared i...
Post a Comment
Read more