SC reprieve for five NTC mills

Land buyers allowed to seek nod for plans.

The prospects for the development of land owned by National Textile Corporation (NTC) mills brightened today. This was after the Supreme Court allowed NTC and the companies that had bought land to approach Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other authorities for clearance of their development plans.

Five NTC mills have sold land in the recent past for around Rs 5,500 crore. These are Kohinoor Mills, Elphinstone Mills, Jupiter Mills, Apollo Mills and the Mumbai Textiles.

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi's son Unmesh and Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's estranged nephew Raj Thackeray had jointly bought Kohinoor Mill No 3 for nearly Rs 421 crore.

The other buyers of NTC mill land include IndiaBulls, Delhi's DLF group and BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha's firm Lodha Developers. 

MILLS AND BOOM
Mill	Price	Buyer
Mumbai Mills	Rs 702 cr	Jwala Realties (Joint venture of DLF group and Akruti Constructions)
Kohinoor Mill No.3	Rs 421 cr	Matoshree Realties Pvt Ltd (A company promoted by Unmesh Joshi and Raj Thackeray)
Apollo Mills	Rs 180 cr	Lodha Developers Pvt Ltd
Jupiter Mills	Rs 276 cr	IndiaBulls
Elphinston Mills	Rs 441.08 cr	IndiaBulls

However, full-fledged development of these properties can still be some distance away. According to the order passed by a Bench comprising Justice SB Sinha and Justice PP Naolekar, no construction is permitted on mill land and no third-party obligations shall be created.

All actions taken by the concerned parties will be subject to the final judgment of the Supreme Court, which is expected to conclude the hearing tomorrow.

Following the Supreme Court order, the IndiaBulls stock gained 9.12 per cent to close at Rs 174.05 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, while Bombay Dyeing, which has its own land to develop, rose 8.71 per cent to close at Rs 378.70.

Last month, the Supreme Court had declined to stay a Bombay High Court order that had disallowed development of mill land.

The high court decision came on a petition by the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG) that accused the Maharashtra government of favouring mill owners by amending development rules.

The original development control rule allowed mills to sell only a third of their land, while the rest had to be handed over to the BMC and Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).

However, the state government amended the rule, allowing mill owners to retain the land on which mill buildings were located and share the rest equally with the BMC and the MHADA.

The BEAG had petitioned that mill owners should be asked to give 67 per cent of the land they occupied to the metropolis for developing "green lungs" and low-cost housing.

"The court has made it clear that there will be no construction activity or creation of any third-party interest. Besides, it is only an interim order and the hearing is still not completed," Debi Goenka of BEAG said reacting to today's judgment.

Mumbai Mill Owners Association's Secretary-General YM Tamhane, however, said it was a step in the right direction.

Speaking to Business Standard, OP Agarwal, managing director of NTC's north Maharashtra division, said real estate developers who had purchased land would now be able to go forward with their plans. "A decision on further sale of mill land will be taken only after the final judgment is delivered," he added.

Kohinoor Developer's Unmesh Joshi said, "If everything goes well, we should be able to start construction by February or March next year. The Supreme Court judgment will help ease real estate prices in Mumbai to some extent, which had gone up after the Bombay High Court judgment." Joshi's joint venture firm with Raj Thackeray, Mathoshree Realties, bought Kohinoor Mill No 3.