Transferable Development Rights as immovable property requires trust-sale scrutiny and permission under the Bombay Public Trusts Act.

Transferable development rights are treated as immovable property because they constitute a benefit arising out of land. On that basis, the Bombay High Court held that a public trust's proposed sale of TDR must be examined under Section 36(1)(c) of the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950, and permission under that provision is required. The earlier view that such permission was unnecessary could not stand, because the objections had been rejected on an incorrect statutory premise. The sale application and the objections therefore had to be reconsidered afresh on their own merits in the proper Section 36 framework.

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Issues: Whether transfer of development rights is to be treated as immovable property so that permission under Section 36(1)(c) of the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950 is required for its sale, and whether the rejection of the petitioners' objections could stand in the absence of such permission.

Analysis: Transferable development rights were held to be a benefit arising out of land and, therefore, immovable property. On that basis, the earlier view that no permission under Section 36 was required could not be sustained. Since the objections had been rejected on the erroneous premise that the statutory permission was unnecessary, those objections had to be reconsidered in the proper statutory context. The application for sale of TDR was consequently revived and both the application and the objections were required to be examined afresh on their own merits under Section 36.

Conclusion: Permission under Section 36(1)(c) is required for sale of TDR, and the petitioners' objections must be reconsidered afresh.

Ratio Decidendi: Transferable development rights constitute immovable property because they are a benefit arising out of land, and a sale of such rights by a public trust must be tested under Section 36 of the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950.

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