India, Oct. 15 -- The Bombay high court on Tuesday set aside the acquisition of land owned by NESCO Limited in Goregaon (East) for a slum rehabilitation project, holding that the state and Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) had acted without following due process under the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971.

The division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Aarti A Sathe ruled that the authorities had failed to recognise the "preferential right" of the landowner to undertake redevelopment of their own land, a right protected under Article 300A of the Constitution. Stating that the acquisition process was initiated without giving NESCO an opportunity to propose a redevelopment scheme, the court note...