SC stays Bombay HC order on rental payout for Tansa project-hit

MUMBAI: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Bombay high court order directing the Maharashtra government to shell out monthly rental compensation to Tansa pipeline project-affected persons who refused to move to “polluted” Mahul.
A vacation bench comprising Justices M R Shah, Aniruddha Bose and A S Bopanna gave the original petitioners before HC four weeks to file affidavits in response to the state petition.
The HC had directed the state to pay monthly rental compensation of Rs15,000 and a one-time payment of Rs45,000 as deposit to the families who did not want to live in Mahul, so that they could acquire accommodation on rent elsewhere. The state claimed before SC that this would cost it around Rs 200 crore.
“Till date there is no final or concrete conclusion by any authority that the ambient air quality in Mahul is having an adverse impact on the health (of residents),” the state government said in its petition, adding that the high court had not dealt with issue of infrastructure, facilities and repair work to be carried out at Eversmile complex at Mahul.
“The HC failed to appreciate that there are a number of persons affected by various other projects who were also rehabilitated at Mahul. The order would lead to a windfall, whereby all project-affected persons would claim monetary compensation, contrary to policies of the state government and BMC,” the petition said. The apex court has scheduled further hearing of the petitions in the first week of August. Lawyers representing the affected families said they would approach the SC next week, urging it to vacate the stay.
The high court had in April 2019 ruled that encroachers evicted from Tansa water pipelines cannot be forced to move into flats in polluted Mahul. The 5,000 families, allotted flats in Mahul and the remaining 5,000 who were eligible for rehabilitation, were given the option of a monthly rental payment of Rs15,000 and Rs45,000 as a one-time deposit.
The HC had relied on a 2015 order of the National Green Tribunal that had held that there was a “threat to health of residents of Mahul and Ambapada due to prevailing air quality in the area”.