In a significant legal development, the Supreme Court of India, under the chairmanship of Chief Justice D.Y Chandrachud, has reserved its judgment on whether private properties can be considered as “material resources of the community” under Article 39(b) of the Constitution, thereby allowing state authorities to take possession for the public interest. The constitutional bench, composed of nine judges, deliberated on this complex question during hearings that concluded on Wednesday.
The matter pertains to 16 petitions, including one filed by the Mumbai Property Owners Association (POA), which has challenged Chapter VIII-A of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act. The POA argues that the provisions of this chapter unfairly target property owners, attempting to dispossess them.
The bench, which also includes Justices Hrishikesh Roy, B.V. Nagarathna, Sudhanshu Dhulia, J.B. Pardiwala, Manoj Mishra, Rajesh Bindal, Satish Chandra Sharma, and Augustine George Masih, has heard extensive arguments from several advocates including Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta before deciding to reserve its judgment.
This case has been circulating through various larger benches since its initial filing by the POA in 1992 and was finally escalated to the nine-member bench on February 20, 2002, after earlier rounds with five- and seven-member benches.
