HC pulls up state govt, BMC over graveyard issue in M East ward

The Bombay High Court criticized the state government and BMC for the lack of progress on the shortage of burial space in the M/East ward and a fresh petition challenging the cancellation of a cemetery reservation. The court has enlisted the intervention of the advocate general to speed up proceedings and open new graveyards. The state government and BMC have been instructed to submit responses by September 25. The BMC was also criticized for not making serious efforts to acquire new graveyard land. A petition was filed by a trust and others regarding the cancellation of cemetery plots.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday once again pulled up the state government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the lack of progress on the issue of the shortage of burial space in the M/East ward.

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This time, however, there was an additional fresh petition challenging the state government’s cancellation of a cemetery reservation.

The court enlisted the intervention of the advocate general of the state government to speed up proceedings on the issue, to allot and open new graveyards in the M East ward. The advocate general assured them he would personally look into the matter and meet with officials in the state government and the BMC.

The original petition, filed in 2019, had highlighted the shortage of burial space in the M East ward and sought more of the same.

In the previous hearing on August 22, the court had directed the state government’s department of urban development to submit a response as to why the cemetery space next to the Deonar cemetery was cancelled.

The state did not submit a response, seeking more time. The court has instructed them to file it on the next hearing date, September 25, without fail.

The BMC was also instructed to submit an affidavit on their efforts to acquire new graveyard land. In response, Sudhakar Shinde, additional municipal commissioner of the BMC, noted that a meeting on the handover of the private land owned by Oswal Agro Mills (EP-ME19, 16,000 square metres) is scheduled for September 23, as the senior executive is on leave.

Regarding this, the court said, “nothing has been indicated which can be said to be a serious effort on the part of the corporation to acquire the said land”.

Regarding the plot EP-ME81 next to the Rafi Nagar graveyard (15,800 square metres), he noted that as the area had a 30 metre tall mound of municipal waste, it would require ₹200 crore to clear and hence, a replacement was being searched for.

The court questioned why the plot was reserved in the first place, adding, “However, though more than one and half years have elapsed since then, the corporation’s search for an alternate plot is not complete. We cannot appreciate such a state of affairs.”

Finally, with regard to the third plot next to the Deonar cemetery, the BMC said it would initiate the process to propose a reservation for a cemetery.

The latter two issues coincide with the gripes raised by the fresh PIL filed by the Faizan E-Gaus-O-Raza trust under the president Sarvar Ali Ansari, along with 30 others.

Their first gripe is with the state government’s cancellation of the cemetery plot on the plot EP-ME100, which it had first reserved on September 12, 2022.

The state then backtracked and cancelled the reservation on November 14, 2022, issuing a corrigendum notification stating it was issued due to mistake and error. This, despite the fact that the land had the weight of the recommendations of the municipal commissioners and director of town planning.

The 9,800 square metre land is particularly pertinent to the petitioners as it adjoins the already present Deonar cemetery. Adjoining it, the ongoing SRA scheme has also carved out 2,264 square metres for it.

The second issue raised by the petitioners is the reservation of a cemetery next to the present Rafi Nagar cemetery, which falls on the Deonar dumping ground. With a 30-metre heap of garbage on it, they hold the position that burials on the land would be against their right to a decent and dignified burial, as per Article 226 read with Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

“We had filed the previous petition asking for additional cemetery land, as the present cemetery space is too little for the population present. Bodies are not properly decomposing due to it, and we’re having to bury newer bodies over the old,” said Shamsher Shaikh, a petitioner in both the petitions.

“But even after the state government allotted cemetery land, they deleted it in two months. They didn’t even give a reason.”