HC orders removal of fish mkt in Thane

The Thane Municipal Corporation had failed to “take urgent steps for removal of the fish market and its accommodation at a suitable alternate site” for more than four years, the court said

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has directed the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) to remove a fish market operating in an area marked as a road in the 1974 Development Plan (DP) and ensure that compulsory open spaces are not misused for commercial purposes.

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The court passed the order while disposing of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Thane resident Pradip Chandrakant Indulkar in 2010, regarding alleged encroachment and commercial activities on a private plot.

Indulkar, an associate member of the Institution of Engineers (India), claimed that in 1982, the TMC granted permission to Unit Arsen Developers (UAD) to construct a shopping complex building on land at Panchpakhadi reserved for a municipal market. The developer did not hand over the building to the TMC and instead sold shops and commercial spaces illegally to third parties, Indulkar alleged, and sought a probe into the matter in November 2001. The TMC then issued a notice to the developer for removal of an unauthorised shed in the building. The developer, in turn, applied for regularisation of the shed, which was rejected by the TMC.

Indulkar then filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, which revealed that the shopping complex building belonged to Bhadani Brothers through UAD, even though no agreement was executed between the two parties or with the state government. The ground floor of the building housed shops, whereas the first and second floors housed a hall and a bank, the response to the RTI application said, as per details mentioned in the PIL.

When the TMC commenced demolition of the unauthorised shed in the building on May 5, 2006, Maharashtra Congress Pradesh functionary and the then corporator Manoj Shinde obstructed the process, Indulkar alleged. Subsequently, in 2010, Indukar moved the high court, seeking removal of all encroachments and commercial activities from the market building, directions to the developer to hand over the land to the TMC, and removal of an illegal fish market in the area.

Indulkar’s counsel informed the court that Shinde had played a pivotal role in halting demolitions and encouraging illegal activities as well as construction of the fish market in the area earmarked for a DP road by misusing his position as a councillor.

The TMC and UDA denied the allegations and submitted in court that the land was privately owned and the market was constructed as per conditions imposed under the Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act, 1976. The counsel for UDA and Shinde submitted that 10% of the land had been utilised for the road and 15% for open spaces, which were made available to local residents for use as banks, schools, hospitals and gymnasiums. Two acres of land had also been handed over to the Water and Sewerage Board and three acres to the erstwhile Maharashtra State Electricity Board, the counsel submitted.

The division bench of chief justice Alok Aradhe and Sandeep Marne disposed of the PIL, observing that the land on which the market building was constructed was privately owned and belonged neither to the state nor the TMC. There was voluminous evidence on record to suggest that only use of the land as ‘market’ was earmarked in the development plan and there was no reservation.

“Therefore, the petitioner’s prayer for handing over the shopping complex building to the municipal corporation cannot be granted,” the court said. However, an illegal pay and park facility in the compulsory open space abutting the building could not be operated, the court held and directed the municipal commissioner to take appropriate action against it.

The court also pointed out that it was inconceivable that a fish market was set up on land earmarked for a DP road. Referring to an affidavit filed by the corporation in 2021, the court observed that though the civic body was in the process of developing the Kisan Nagar area adjacent to the fish market under the urban renewal scheme, it had failed to “take urgent steps for removal of the fish market and its accommodation at a suitable alternate site” for more than four years.