'NTC actions completely driven by profit motive'

While striking down the sale of land by the National Textile Corporation (NTC), justices S Radhakrishnan and S D Dharmadhikari observed that NTC has clearly violated the guidelines laid down by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).

According to them, the moves also violated the directives given by the Supreme Court earlier this year.

The court observed that the NTC actions were contrary to the objective of 'revival of the textile industry', with which it was set up. It acted more like a private mill owner completely driven by the profit motive.

As directed by BIFR, NTC didn't earmark open spaces and land for social housing, and it took a convenient approach of handing over a part of mill land to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and Maharashtra Area and Housing Development Authority .

The judges also observed that amendment in the development control rule (DCR), which allows a developer to use 100 per cent floor space index (FSI) on which a mill building once stood, is violation of Article 21 of the Constitution and section 37 of the Maharashtra Town Planning Act (MTPA) and it overlooked the basic aspect that after the demolition of a mill building, the entire plot becomes an open plot, available for fresh development.

The court also pulled up BMC for not ensuring rehabilitation of 225 houses on private mill land and not getting environment impact assessment done before sanctioning development plans on private mill land.