India, June 20 -- The Bombay high court on Thursday upheld the validity of a clause in Mumbai's development plan that permits 65% of encroached land reserved for public open spaces to be utilised for in-situ rehabilitation of slum dwellers occupying the land.

A bench of justices Amit Borkar and Somasekhar Sundaresan also directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) to strictly ensure that the remaining 35% of the reserved land remains available as public open space.

The bench was ruling on a petition filed in 2002 by NAGAR, a Mumbai-based nonprofit that had challenged Regulation 17(3)(D)(2) of the Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR) 2034. The regulation allowed the us...