Court permits restoration of Centre's plea against Maharashtra's Kanjurmarg land claim

Court permits restoration of Centre’s plea against Maharashtra’s Kanjurmarg land claim

The Bombay High Court has directed the restoration of a petition filed by the central government challenging a state government order declaring that the state was the owner of various salt pans in Mumbai, including the Kanjurmarg area earmarked for the development of a Metro car shed.

The Centre had moved an interim application through advocates Rui Rodrigues and DP Singh seeking restoration of the writ petition dismissed by the High Court registrar for non-removal of office objections (fulfilling technical formalities).

The petition challenging the ownership of the controversial land at Kanjurmarg was not pursued by the central government after being filed in 2020. Sachin Bhasali, the Registrar on the Original Side of the Bombay High Court, noted that since the petition had been filed on October 20, 2020, the lawyers who filed the petition had not made a single attempt to remove office objections and get the petition finally numbered.

The Registrar ensures all petitions within the territorial limits of Mumbai district are filed in compliance with the High Court Rules.

Justice Sandeep Marne, after the centre moved the interim application, said, “Considering the averments made in the application, the interim application is allowed. Writ petition is restored subject to the condition of removal of office objections within a period of four weeks.”

The central government will now have to complete the procedure by March 4.

The petition had challenged a November 2018 order of the then Maharashtra revenue minister and BJP leader Chandrakant Patil, declaring that the state was the owner of various salt pans in Mumbai.

Based on the 2018 order, the Mumbai collector under the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government decided on October 1, 2020, to transfer the 102-acre Kanjurmarg salt pan land to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for the construction of the Metro car shed. The MVA had scrapped the Metro car shed construction in Mumbai’s green zone, Aarey, which was also declared as a forest by them after several protests by activists.

However, the Centre then approached the high court against the 2018 order and also moved a plea challenging the Collector’s order. While the plea challenging the Collector’s order was heard, this petition never came up for a hearing and was consequently dismissed due to a lack of action by the concerned advocates.

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