New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Bombay High Court order holding the sale of textile mill lands by the National Textile Corporation (NTC), which was contrary to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) scheme and the apex court order.
The Supreme Court has allowed buyers of five NTC mills to submit their development plans to the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation.
However, the court has also asked the buyers not to do any construction on these lands till the final disposal of this petition in January 2006.
In October, the Bombay HC declared the sale of the NTC mills as illegal.
A bench comprising Justice S B Sinha and Justice P P Naolekar directed municipal and other authorities to process and clear forms seeking approval of the layout plans and other applications submitted by the buyers.
"The SC had only stayed a portion of the High Court order holding that the sale of lands by the NTC was contrary to the apex court order and the BIFR scheme," said NTC Counsel B Sunita Rao.
Rao added that buyers could apply and get all clearances, including the environmental clearance, from authorities concerned.
The impugned order was passed on a PIL by Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG), which had alleged that mill lands were sold in violation of Development Control (DC) rules.
As per rules, only one third of the land could be sold while the rest had to be surrendered to the municipal corporation for public utilities, open spaces and low-cost public housing.
Besides NTC, the Bombay Dyeing, Mafatlal Industries, Simplex Mills, Ruby Mills, Swan Mills, Prakash Cotton Mills and others have challenged the High Court order.
The hearing in the case, which will continue on Thursday, is likely to continue after vacations in January.
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