New Delhi, May 27 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that public interest would be better served by imposing stringent financial penalties rather than demolishing a fully functional commercial complex employing thousands of people, as it directed developer K Raheja Corp Pvt Ltd to pay more than Rs.318 crore for a Navi Mumbai plot wrongfully allotted to it in 2003. A bench of justices Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Alok Aradhe set aside a 2014 Bombay High Court order directing the land to be restored to its original condition, which would have entailed demolition of a shopping mall and hotel complex operational since 2009. The apex court said that demolishing the commercial complex after 17 years of operation, involving an investment of Rs.450 crore, employment for 8,000 people and annual tax revenue of nearly Rs.100 crore, "would not vindicate the public interest". Instead, it said, the loss caused to the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) could be adequately remedied through a "rigorous financial recovery mechanism". The dispute concerned the allotment of a 30,582-square-metre plot in Sector 30A, Vashi, originally earmarked for Information Technology use. In 2003, Cidco had allotted the land to K Raheja Corp at Rs.10,250 per sq m without a competitive bidding process. The Inorbit Mall, operated by K Raheja Corp, and the Four Points by Sheraton Navi Mumbai hotel were later built on the plot. A subsequent inquiry by the state-appointed DK Sankaran Committee found that the land should have been disposed of through competitive tendering and that the allotment resulted in an estimated loss of Rs.50 crore to Cidco due to undervaluation. While the Bombay High Court in 2014 termed the allotment "completely illegal and arbitrary" and ordered restoration of the land to its original condition, it left open the possibility of regularisation. However, the Supreme Court noted that "irreversible third-party rights" had crystallised over the years, with nearly 150 retailers operating in the mall and thousands of people dependent on it for their livelihoods. It emphasised that Cidco must be fully compensated, the developer penalised proportionately, and innocent third-party interests protected. The bench relied heavily on the findings of the JK Banthia Committee, constituted by the state government in 2015, which recommended that any regularisation must be based on the land's full market value as of 2014, when the high court delivered its judgment. Taking the ready reckoner rate for 2014 at Rs.54,400 per sq m, the bench computed the land's market value at Rs.166.36 crore. Along with 8% interest from December 2014 till April 2026, the court directed the developer to pay Rs.318.31 crore....