The judgement of the Supreme Court in a case relating to speculative investments in real estate emphasises, rightly, the right to shelter as a facet of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution. Although the case before the bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan was primarily to decide whether the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code could be invoked by a speculative investor, who had no interest in taking possession of a property, the court recorded the ills afflicting the housing sector, notably the building of asset bubbles. In particular, the bench noted that the state must proactively address “the menace of a parallel cash economy and speculative practices in the real estate market”, which artificially inflate........

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