<p>The Bombay high court dismissed Bhosale Homes’ petition against the 2016 stop work notice issued by CIDCO for a project in Ulwe<br></p>

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court dismissed a builder’s petition that challenged a 2016 stop work notice issued to it by CIDCO for its project in Ulwe, a Navi Mumbai locality. Justices Ajay Gadkari and Kamal Khata, in a March 20 judgment, effectively held that when land title was under dispute, a development agreement would not hold sway.
Ulwe is part of NAINA (Navi Mumbai Airport Notified Influenced Area). The HC held that the Navi Mumbai planning agency, City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), was right in stopping construction work undertaken by Bhosale Homes, as land ownership was under dispute.
The HC said it was a case where land ownership was in question, and land title rights would have to be tried on facts before a civil court. The case cannot be adjudicated before the HC on grounds of arbitrariness or as claimed by the builder for violations of principles of natural justice.
The realtors Bhosale Homes, through its partner B M Bhosale, petitioned the HC in 2022, saying it was the lessee of the land since 2008 and in possession of it since. In 2014, it got permission to construct. But on August 31, 2016, CIDCO issued the builder a stop work notice and rejected its development proposal.
The realtor, through senior counsel Abhay Khandeparkar and advocate Sujay Gawade, said the original owners’ names were recorded along with Bhosale Homes by CIDCO in its allotment letter of August 2008 under a scheme popularly known as the 12.5 Percent scheme introduced by the Maharashtra govt in 1990 and 1994 to distribute land to project-affected persons (PAPs) whose plots were acquired for Navi Mumbai’s development.
However, CIDCO, through its senior counsel G S Hegde and advocate Pinky Bhansali, contended in court that the notice was issued on the grounds that the land in 2012 was allotted to and owned by a Trust, Sir Mohammed Yusuf Trust, under the 12.5% Scheme after acquiring the petitioner’s land.
Khandeparkar said the builder spent crores so far, and prospective purchasers have already booked flats and commercial spaces for the project. He argued that the stop work would impact buyers and financial institutions from where funds were sourced for the project. Khandeparkar also said a similar stop-work notice was set aside by the HC in 2018 in another project by another builder.
Hegde, for CIDCO, sought dismissal of the petition, as Bhosale Homes has no right to the property, and their development proposal was “in fact rejected.” The bench said given the facts, CIDCO’s notice “cannot be faulted” and dismissed the petition. The builder has liberty to go before a civil court however, the HC said.