Maharashtra to Lift 16-Year Ban on Land Allotment to Housing Societies via Auctions
MUMBAI — Nearly 16 years after the Adarsh Housing Society scam halted allotments, the Maharashtra government has decided to lift the ban on granting government land to cooperative housing societies through a fresh policy that replaces the old lottery system with direct auctions.
State Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule approved the draft policy on Wednesday. The proposal will now be submitted to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for final clearance.
Under the proposed framework, government plots will be auctioned to cooperative housing societies through a technical and financial bidding process, with the plot awarded to the highest bidder. The base price will be set at 2.5% of the land's market value in Mumbai city and its suburbs, and at 5% across the rest of the state.
District collectors will compile lists of available government plots, after which public advertisements will be issued to invite technical and financial bids. The policy also ends the practice of transferring land on an outright ownership basis. Instead, plots will be granted on a 30-year lease, following which they will become eligible for conversion to Occupancy Class-I status, making them freehold.
Bawankule stated that the revised policy was framed in response to a petition filed in the Bombay High Court by the Sanjay Gandhi Cooperative Housing Society in Kolhapur, as well as observations made by the Supreme Court on November 25, 2024.
To ensure diverse representation, the draft policy outlines specific quota allocations. General category societies will receive 40% of the plots, while 15% will be reserved for housing societies formed by state government, local body, and government undertaking employees.
Reservations of 10% each have been allocated for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Nomadic Tribes, as well as for writers, artists, sportspersons, and journalists. A 5% quota each has been designated for freedom fighters and their heirs, organisations of persons with disabilities, Economically Weaker Sections, serving and former MPs and MLAs, central government employees, and serving or former armed forces personnel.
Government land allotments to housing societies had previously been regulated by resolutions issued in 1999 and 2007. However, the process was suspended in 2010 following the Adarsh scam in Colaba, which led to the resignation of then Chief Minister Ashok Chavan. In March 2014, the Bombay High Court struck down discretionary allotment schemes, directing the state to establish a transparent mechanism.
