Maharashtra: Assembly Clears Bill Meant To Speed Up Redevelopment

The Maharashtra legislative assembly unanimously approved a bill on Tuesday, amending the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance, and Redevelopment) Act of 1971. This development paves the way for the clearance of pending redevelopment projects.

The bill grants legal protection to the apex grievances redressal committee (AGRC) with retrospective effect from 2017. The AGRC was established by the state government in response to a court order to address grievances related to the SRA (Slum Rehabilitation Authority). The committee, comprising members from various relevant departments, was tasked with resolving issues concerning redevelopment and other SRA-related matters. However, it lacked the necessary legal sanctity, making it vulnerable to potential court challenges, which could have resulted in the nullification of all its decisions made since 2017. Such an outcome could have led to chaos in the realm of redevelopment.

To prevent such a scenario, the state government introduced the bill to amend the Act, ensuring that the committee's decisions would be protected and upheld. The successful passage of the bill now enables the AGRC to continue its work unhindered, as confirmed by Housing Development Minister Atul Save.

During discussions on the bill, various members of the legislative assembly expressed their views. Shiv Sena's Sunil Prabhu, BJP's Yogesh Sagar, Congress's Aslam Shekh, and NCP's Anil Deshmukh were among those who shared their opinions. Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan inquired whether the government sought advice from the Advocate General while providing retrospective protection to the committee's decisions. NCP's Jitendra Awhad emphasised the potential chaos if the committee's legitimacy were to be challenged in court. Shiv Sena members Ravindra Waikar and Ajay Chaudhari suggested that the committee should be allotted a specific time frame to decide on cases before them.