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Unlocking unused government land for housing is a sure fire route to address the affordable housing crisis plaguing our world. And guess what? The Supreme Court of India is taking that solution pretty seriously.
Starting With Creating A Process
A Supreme Court bench including the Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli has recently asked the Attorney General, KK Venugopal to submit proposed guidelines to govern and allot government land to housing societies.
And Weeding Out Unethical Practice
The court wanted to know how they can regulate and create a uniform policy across the country for the allocation of land after the AG said that these plots of land are being distributed to politicians, journalists, and even judges to “curry favours for particular entities”.
How Did We Get Here?
A plea was filed in the High Court in 2008 where it was stated that the land situated within the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation included various societies that housed MLAs, MPs, and other high profile officers.
Further, an appeal was filed by the then Andhra Pradesh government in 2010 against the Hyderabad High Court judgment which set aside various government orders on allotment of residential plots to housing societies.
Now its successor, the Telangana government is following up the matter.