Batch of writ petitions under Article 226 (lead matter: Writ Petition No. 3140 of 2019, Om Shri Sai Sra Co-operative Housing Society v. State of Maharashtra, with approximately 62 connected petitions and interim applications) raising (i) non-payment of transit rent by developers in Slum Rehabilitation Schemes and (ii) failure to hand over possession of permanent alternate accommodations, including illegal occupation of allotted tenements. Following the Court's earlier order dated 17 December 2025 directing constitution of 'Special Cells', the SRA issued Circular Nos. 230-233 dated 22 December 2025: Circular 230 constituting a Special Cell against unauthorized occupation of rehabilitation tenements (eviction under Sections 3(E) and 33, Slum Act, within four weeks of inspection); Circular 231 directing freezing of part of the free-sale component (immediate lower floors, computed on number of slum dwellers, approximately three years' rent cycle and Ready Reckoner value) as security for transit rent, with bank guarantee where the free-sale component is already sold; Circular 232 requiring all rehabilitation/PAP/PTC tenements to be handed over to the Estate Department of SRA and barring developers from independent handover; and Circular 233 constituting 'Special Cells for adjudication and recovery of transit rent' with 15-day adjudication (extendable by 15 days for recorded reasons), stop-work notices, encashment of deposits, and recovery under newly inserted Section 33B of the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971 (Mah. 42 of 2025, w.e.f. 29 August 2025) as arrears of land revenue, including from directors/partners personally. HELD: the grievances are now required to be effectively considered by the Special Cells; the cells are not an independent adjudicatory mechanism and any order passed by them is deemed an order of the SRA, with statutory remedies available to aggrieved parties thereafter; complaints are ordinarily to be disposed of within fifteen days, extendable by 15-30 days for reasons in writing; PAA-deprivation cases, especially where entitlement stands determined under the PAA Scheme or lottery, are to be decided without delay; transit rent quantum is to be determined by the cells with interest governed by SRA policy as observed in Vijay Namdeo Gujar v. State of Maharashtra, WPL 32632/2025; a separate general committee (including MHADA and Municipal Corporation nominees) is to adjudicate Annexure-II eligibility and miscellaneous disputes, to be constituted by circular by 10 January 2026. Non-payment of transit rent implicates the right to shelter, a facet of Article 21 of the Constitution. Proceedings disposed of keeping all contentions open before the Special Cells; no costs.
