MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday ordered the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to pay additional compensation of ₹ 1,062 crore to SN Desai Hospitalities and Developers LLP for acquiring 48,897 square metres of land in Oshiwara and Ambivali for public amenities, including gardens, a recreation ground and a road.
Dissatisfied with the amount, the developer approached the high court seeking higher compensation. The high court rejected the BMC’s objections, but held that the LARR Authority had wrongly calculated the land’s value. The BMC then expressed its wish to challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court.
On May 3, 2017, the land acquisition officer, a deputy collector, fixed the compensation amount at ₹ 511.48 crore. The case was later transferred to the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Authority, established under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. On March 30, 2021, the authority increased the total compensation to ₹ 2,101.2 crore, awarding the developer an additional ₹ 1,591.12 crore. The court said that the authority had applied the same ready reckoner rate of ₹ 90,600 per sq m for both parcels of lands. It held that this rate was applicable only to the smaller plot in Oshiwara, measuring 1,895.62 sq m, while the rate for the larger 47,002 sq m plot in Ambivali should be ₹ 72,100 per sq m. After recalculating the land valuation, the court held that the developer was entitled to total compensation of ₹ 1,572 crore. Since the developer had already received around ₹ 511 crore, the court ordered the civic body to pay the balance of around ₹ 1,062 crore in 12 weeks.
Both sides then challenged the decision before the high court.
