Anxiety rises among Mumbai’s 4 lakh pagdi residents over stalled redevelopment

Crumbling structures in Kondaji Chawl, opposite Tata Memorial Hospital, on Jerbai Wadia Road in Parel. PICS/ASHISH RAJE

The redevelopment of 935 old and dilapidated buildings in Mumbai has once again come under a cloud, as a legal dispute concerning the powers of MHADA's executive engineers to issue notices under Section 79-A has now reached the Supreme Court. The development has sparked anxiety among nearly four lakh residents living in these pagdi system buildings, whose redevelopment projects remain stalled due to the prolonged litigation.

The issue revolves around whether executive engineers of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) have the authority to issue 79-A notices, which are critical for initiating eviction and redevelopment proceedings in dangerous or cessed buildings. The Bombay High Court had constituted a special committee to investigate the legal and administrative validity of such powers.

"The committee recently submitted its report, offering some hope that the impasse could soon be resolved. However, before any clarity could emerge, the matter escalated, with landlords challenging the Bombay High Court's orders in the apex court, raising fresh uncertainty over the fate of hundreds of pending redevelopment projects across the city," said a MHADA official.

What's the matter?

>> The Bombay High Court, in July 2025, directed that a special committee examine the issuance of notices under section 79-A to 935 pagdi building owners and the role of different officials and/or motives, if any, in issuance of these notices

>> The direction was given while hearing a December 2024 plea made by several landlords of these pagdi buildings

Special committee report's findings in short

>> As per MHADA resolution dated May 28, 2001/June 27, 2001, executive engineers have been declared as a competent authority, and since then, they have been performing the duties and functions of declaring the buildings as dangerous and taking consequential steps

>> Even the state government guidelines dated October 22, 2023, contemplate that the notice under section 79-A could be issued by the executive engineers to the owners of dangerous buildings to submit a proposal for redevelopment with the consent of at least 51 per cent of the tenants

Resident Speak

Ninad Shivnekar, Parel resident
‘We live on the second floor, which is the top storey of our building. My five-year-old daughter, my wife and I sleep on the terrace as our house is small and both my parents are old. The toilets are outside the house, which makes it difficult to use for my ailing parents. The roof could collapse at any time. I have been desperately looking for hoardings and wooden materials to secure the roof for the past few weeks now. The city, known for its humanity, also has inhuman people like these landlords, and that's the ugly truth of Mumbai'

Dinesh Loke, Dadar resident
"Soon, Mumbai will start witnessing heavy monsoon rains. As our building is in litigation, neither can we get it repaired, nor is the redevelopment process going ahead. Also, since MHADA's competence is being questioned, the pre-monsoon structural audit will also not be conducted for our buildings this year. Are the authorities just waiting for us to die?"

Sumedha Tawde, Girgaon resident
‘First, the landlords stopped taking rent, then they refused to do the repairs, then they threatened us to vacate the house, stating that we hadn't paid the rent. And when nothing worked in their favour, they used the judicial system to delay redevelopment. As a result, we tenants are forced to live in dangerous houses which may fall anytime. Considering our financial conditions and today's property and rent rates, we cannot buy or rent a new home nearby. Now that the matter has reached the apex court, it will just be another long wait'

Activist Speak

Jitendra Ghadge, Activist
"There is an urgent need to make changes to the Maharashtra Rent Control Act and MHADA Act in light of the findings of the committee report on cessed buildings and Section 79-A. Certain changes [see blueprint box] can bring in remarkable justice to the lakhs of pagdi residents."