Summary
Under Sections 20 and 21 of the Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act, 1976, the State Government exempted certain excess land from the provisions of the Act on the condition that the land be used by the builders for the purpose of providing housing for the ‘weaker sections of society.’ It was alleged that the builders had not done so. Although it found that the applicant’s writ of petition had been rendered infructuous, the Bombay High Court gave some directions regarding future monitoring of the scheme sanctioned under Section 20.
On appeal, the Supreme Court stated that “[b]asic needs of man have traditionally been accepted to the three – food, clothing and shelter. The right to life is guaranteed in any civilized society. That would take within its sweep the right to food, the right to clothing, the right to decent environment and a reasonable accommodation to live in.” The Court iterated that shelter for a human being has to be a suitable accommodation which would allow him to grow and develop in every aspect – physical, mental and intellectual. A reasonable residence is an indispensable necessity for fulfilment of the constitutional goal in the matter of development of man and should be taken as included in ‘life’ in Article 21.
Amongst other things, the Court ordered the builders not to make any allotment of flats until the claim of the complainants (who belonged to the ‘weaker sections’) were scrutinised and the allotment of accommodation for such number of persons as were found to belong to the ‘weaker sections’ was provided. The Court prescribed certain guidelines in relation to such allocation and ordered State Government to constitute a committee for monitoring allotment of the flats to the weaker sections.
Keywords: Shantistar Builders v Narayan Khimalal Totame, Civil Appeal No. 2598/1989. Cited as: (1990) 1 SCC 520, Life, Right