- (1.) Leave granted. In the Metropolitan Town of Mumbai there exist a large number of Slums. 55 % population of Greater Bombay does not have authorized shelter. Nearly 2525 hectares of lands in the City are under slums. Lands occupied by slums are allocated for different users, and are designated, reserved or allotted for various existing or proposed public purposes in the draft or final revised Development Plan of Greater Bombay.
(2.) For rehabilitation of the slum dwellers living in distress the Legislature of Maharashtra enacted the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 (hereinafter referred to as 'the 1966 Act') in terms whereof respondent Nos. 2 and 4 are treated to be planning authorities as would appear from section 2(19) thereof.
(3.) Section 2(27) defines "regulation" to mean a regulation made under section 159 of this Act and includes zoning, special development control regulations and other regulations made as a part of a Regional Plan, Development Plan, or Town Planning Scheme. Grant or refusal of permission for development is governed by section 45, which reads thus : "45. Grant or refusal of permission. (I) On receipt of an application 1 under section 44 the Planning Authority may, subject to the provisions of I this Act, by order in writing (i) grant the permission, unconditionally; (ii) grant the permission, subject to such general or special conditions as it may impose with the previous approval of the State Government; or (iii) refuse the permission; (2) Any permission granted under sub-section (1) with or without conditions shall be contained in a commencement certificate in the prescribed form. (3) Every order granting permission subject to conditions, or refusing permission shall state the grounds for imposing such conditions or for such refusal. (4) Every order under sub-section (1) shall be communicated to the applicant in the manner prescribed by regulations. (5) If the Planning Authority does not communicate its decision whether to grant or refuse permission to the applicant within sixty days from the date of receipt of his application, or within sixty days from the date of receipt of reply from the applicant in respect of any requisition made by the Planning Authority, whichever is later, such permission shall be deemed to have been granted to the applicant on the date immediately following the date of expiry of sixty days : Provided that, the development proposal, for which the permission was applied for, is strictly in conformity with the requirements of all the relevant Development Control Regulations framed under this Act or bye-laws or regulations framed in this behalf under any law for the time being in force and the same in no way violates either the provisions of any draft or final plan or proposals published by means of notice, submitted for sanction under this Act: Provided further that any development carried out in pursuance of such deemed permission which is in contravention of the provisions of the first proviso, shall be deemed to be an unauthorized development for the purposes of sections 52 to 57. (6) The Planning Authority shall, within one month from the date of issue of commencement certificate, forward duly authenticated copies of such certificate and the sanctioned building or development plans to the Collector concerned.";