Bombay Court refuses distribution of KDMC apartments to poor

The Bombay Supreme Court delayed the KDMC's proposal to allocate housing to 75 people under basic services to the urban poor (BSUP) scheme without a warrant, calling into question the criteria it used.

The ruling came during a hearing on a PIL filed by Kalyan-based architect Sandeep Patil, who claimed that individuals ineligible for the scheme were added to eligible lists due to political pressure. The HC has urged the KDMC to respond by May 2.

Patil filed a plea with the Supreme Court in the first week of March, requesting that the housing built under the BSUP plan not be provided to ineligible people, claiming that the KDMC had generated a list of 90 people who were temporarily ineligible for the benefits in Dombivli.

Patil's lawyer, Dadhichi Mhaispurkar, and lawyer Siddhi Bhosale, testified in court that after Patil's PIL, KDMC delayed the distribution of 90 flats to ineligible people, but later made 75 of them eligible and planned to distribute flats to them.

After meeting with the petitioner's attorney, the court ordered the state and KDMC to prepare a detailed report on how they qualified for the scheme.