The Hindu Business Line : Indiabulls to appeal against HC order

INDIABULLS Properties Private Ltd will file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court order of October 17, which set aside the sale of land owned by the National Textile Corporation (NTC) mills in Mumbai.

NTC had sold five properties for a value of Rs 2,020.75 crore, of which Indiabulls had purchased two properties (Jupiter Mill and Elphinston Mill) worth over Rs 700 crore.

A press release by Indiabulls here on Tuesday said the judgment essentially meant upholding of the old Development Control Regulation (DCR) 58, which required the mill owners to surrender one-third of the total mill land to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, one-third to Bombay Municipal Corporation, and the balance one-third to be allotted to the mill owners for development purposes. The company said this order would drastically reduce the availability of mill lands for construction/development in Mumbai.

The high court , on the basis of a public interest litigation filed by the Bombay Environmental Action Group, had delivered the said judgment observing that the sale of mill land by NTC was in violation of the Supreme Court orders dated May 11, 2005, and September 27, 2002, and contrary to the sanctioned schemes of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).

The company's counsel has advised, the release said, that the Supreme Court in its May 11, 2005 order had taken the integrated planning scheme of NTC into account while permitting NTC to complete the sale transactions. The company said the Supreme Court in its May order had a specific reference in this context, where a provision was made to offer vacant land available from other mills by way of adjustment in case of success of the writ petition.

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