Can buffaloes be included under a slum rehabilitation scheme and packed off in 225 square feet apartments? That’s the question raised by a petition before the Bombay HC challenging a proposed scheme by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority on a large plot of land in Malad (East).

A division bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Sharad Bobde have scheduled the case for further hearing on December 4, and as way of interim relief restrained the developers from demolishing or shifting the stables till that date.

"SRA schemes are meant for residential or commercial structures," said advocate Anil Singh, who along with advocate Dhanesh Shah represents the 25 petitioners, who own the cow sheds at Nadiadwala stables in Malad East. "By no stretch of imagination can stables, which have been in existence for decades with due permission, be brought within the sweep of the SRA scheme or the Slum Act."

The land that is the bone of contention is spread over 45,473 square metres and is being developed by Rashmi Infrastructure developers, Parasrampuria Industries and Amalgamated Building Corporation. According to the stable owners, the area in which the stables are located is demarcated from the residential slums by a nullah flowing across the property.

The petitioners claim that many of them own 100 to 150 buffaloes, with their stables spread over 10,000-12,000 square feet. There is a large open space too which the stable owners claim they use for storing cattle food and dumping cow dung.

The government had declared the whole area as a slum and ordered the shifting of the stables. The stable owners opposed the eviction proceedings, filing pleas both before the courts as well as the government. In the end, on the orders of the high court they approached the high-powered committee looking into slum rehab projects, but drew a blank there too after they were declared ineligible.

The builders as well the state has contended that the whole area was notified as a slum. "The authorities have not decided the basic issue of whether the slum scheme is applicable to stables where buffaloes are kept," said the advocate. "Neither the stable owners nor their buffaloes fall within the definition of dweller or slum dweller," claimed advocate Singh.

The developers have however refuted the allegations. Ratanlal Parasrampuria, a partner at Parasrampuria Industries, in an affidavit in reply, said that the Slum Act enacted in 1971 covers stables within its ambit.