Cal HC cancels 7 cottah KMDA land allotment in Salt lake

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has cancelled the allotment of about 7 cottahs of land by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) in Salt Lake’s East Kolkata Area Development Project, holding that the process was arbitrary and violative of principles governing the distribution of public property.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen allowed a public interest petition challenging the allotment made in 2008.

The case concerned the allotment of Plot Nos. BD-8 and BD-9 in Block BD of the project to a cooperative housing society promoted for a group of “officers and professionals”. The petitioner contended that the allotment was made on the basis of an individual application addressed to the minister and processed with undue haste, without any transparent or competitive procedure.

The court held that distribution of public land must be guided by fairness, transparency and a well-defined policy. It observed that allotment based on individual requests, without inviting competing claims or following a publicly known process, cannot be sustained in law. Finding the allotment arbitrary, the bench set aside both the allotment made on June 2, 2008 and the lease deed executed on October 23, 2009, in favour of the cooperative society.

The court directed the society and its promoter to hand over vacant and peaceful possession of the land, along with any construction, to KMDA within 120 working days. It further directed KMDA to refund the amount received, along with the value of construction and interest at 10 per cent per annum, within 60 working days of taking possession.

While rejecting some of the petitioner’s technical objections, the court held that the allotment ultimately failed the test of non-arbitrariness required in the distribution of public largesse and allowed the petition with consequential relief.