Mumbai: Former MLA Gopal Shetty moves HC for not giving free houses to slum dwellers on first floor

Former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Gopal Shetty has decided to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the verdict after the High Court refused to grant the benefit of free housing to all the slum dwellers on the first floor.

Shetty insists that houses on the first floor should be provided free of cost or if not possible, paid or under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. According to the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme of Old chawls, during the redevelopment, the resident living on the first floor or above could not be given the benefit of a free house. Due to this, difficulties arose in redeveloping the old chawls according to the SRA scheme. 

Shetty had sent several letters to the state government and authorities demanding that all the slum dwellers on the first floor should be considered sympathetically. However, out of these, the Slum Rehabilitation Authority pointed out that this benefit can be given to chawls or slums till January 1, 1976. Apart from this, it was also suggested to check if the tenants on the first floor of the chawl can be given a house as per the criteria of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. 

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These residents were advised to provide the flats available under the SRA Yojana for the project affected. If these flats are not available, flats in other schemes can be considered, the authority had said. The same proposal was pending with the Housing Department. A petition was filed in the High Court in this regard. But since it was rejected, Shetty has decided to appeal in the Supreme Court.

In the Dharavi Redevelopment Project, multi-storied slums will be provided with paid or rented houses. But the government is not ready to provide that benefit in the original slum rehabilitation scheme. How can two different laws be enforced in the same city? asked Shetty. Shetty pointed out that the High Court had pointed out that the decision not to provide housing benefits to multi-storied slums was policy, and the court could not interfere unless it was proved to be unconstitutional. He said that we are going to appeal in the Supreme Court on the same issues.