India, Oct. 8 -- The Bombay High Court has ordered an inquiry into the allotment of tenements in a slum redevelopment scheme in Sion Koliwada, taking the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) to task over alleged mass illegal allotments to "missing" persons.

Remarking that the situation was "highly unconscionable and shocking", the court directed the authorities to conduct an inquiry into the irregularities, fix the role of the developer, and state what action had been taken on the alleged illegal allotments.

A bench of Justice Girish Kulkarni and Justice Aarti Sathe remarked, "We have a grave doubt as to whether the SRA continues to have any statutory control whatsoever, in the manner known to law, qua the slum schemes it governs."

The ...