Abhay Pethe

Anatomy of Ownership and Management of Public Land in Mumbai Setting an Agenda Using IAD Framework

Mumbai is facing significant challenges in terms of infrastructure deficit and paucity of land owing to its mismanagement and stringent regulations. These problems could be resolved–through policy tweaks—if public organizations that own land, managed these assets efficiently. This would not only augment the effective land supply in the city, but would also enable public organizations to unlock the potential value of their land assets. This could help in financing infrastructure projects. The first step in realizing the locked values of public land would be an understanding of the extant situation of Public Land in Mumbai which suffers from several deficiencies: ambiguity in land ownership, inefficient utilization, unauthorized settlements, and rent seeking, which cumulatively distort land markets. This article attempts to deconstruct the situation of Ownership and Management Public Land in Mumbai using the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) Framework in order to clarify the underlying institutions that work in tandem to influence the outcomes and suggest an agenda for further research.

Legislative Impact on Land Markets in Cities: The Case of ULCRA in Mumbai and Its Repeal

Land has recently been looked upon as having substantial value in the Indian cities, especially in Mumbai. However, the allocation of land is a contested area with conflicting views and experiences. Governments intervene in land allocation through legislations for achieving equity but they do so without understanding the institutional structure and changing political, social and economic order. The Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act (ULCRA) is a piece of legislation through which Indian government made an attempt to redistribute urban land by limiting private ownership of it and confiscating the surplus. A critical review of its performance in India points to the difficulty of achieving such lofty goals in the complex real world, wherein different players actively use a variety of tactics to protect their interest, and also negotiate the outcome in the event of its repeal. The weak institutional capacity of the government and the changing governance framework render the outcomes detrimental. The experience of Mumbai city presented further points to the fact that the multiple actors thus have evolved their strategies to protect their interests through lobbying, corruption and legal wrangling. The experience of ULCRA, therefore, points to ground-level impediments to implementation of law and varied responses of the actors so as to preserve (or, even enhance) their particular interests. ULCRA also went against the decentralization of urban governance that began after the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act.

Decline of rental housing in India: the case of Mumbai

The amount of rental housing in India has declined significantly over the years for various reasons, including the nature of the rent control laws. This paper assesses the impact of rent control for Mumbai, where it has created a shortfall in formal, affordable rental housing and contributed to distortions in the land market. The paper describes how “first-generation” rent control in Mumbai has led to deterioration of the existing rental housing stock, virtually halted the construction of new housing for rental in the city, and given rise to informal practices such as pagdi or key money. It also analyses the spatial concentration and composition of rent-controlled tenements in the city. It proposes reforms that would allow a gradual move towards rationalized rent controls, arguing that such second-generation controls will help incentivize investments in the rental sector and reduce the demand in the housing market at large, with implications for prices and affordable housing in particular.