HC protects lessee of 632 acres salt pan land in Mulund-Bhandup belt from dispossession

However, the court refused to extend the same relief for the remaining 150 acres located on the western side of the Eastern Express Highway. The bench noted that no salt production had taken place on this portion of the land for at least two decades due to severe sewage contamination

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) has granted partial relief to a lessee in a long-standing legal battle over 782 acres of salt pan land spread across Mulund, Nahur, Bhandup, and Kanjurmarg.

HC protects lessee of 632 acres salt pan land in Mulund-Bhandup belt from dispossession

A division bench comprising Justices BP Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla last week stayed an earlier order passed by a single judge, which had directed the lessee to hand over 632 acres of the land to the salt commissioner, a central government employee who oversees the administration of salt-related matters, including leasing out salt pan lands and managing the salt cess. The bench restrained the central authority from dispossessing the lessee, on the condition that he continues to pay the assignment fees at the prescribed rates.

However, the court refused to extend the same relief for the remaining 150 acres located on the western side of the Eastern Express Highway. The bench noted that no salt production had taken place on this portion of the land for at least two decades due to severe sewage contamination.

“Considering these circumstances, we are of the view that no relief can be granted as far as these 150 acres are concerned, simply because the lease of the suit property to the Plaintiff and his predecessor was for manufacture of salt,” the judges observed. They added that the stay on the remaining 632 acres would be lifted if the lessee failed to pay the required fees.

The legal dispute dates back to 2005, when Dadar resident Vikas Walawalkar, a sub-lessee of the salt pan land, filed a suit after the deputy salt commissioner terminated the lease for non-compliance with the salt manufacturing clause. Walawalkar challenged the termination and also sought a declaration that he was entitled to a lease renewal for another 99 years, following the expiry of the original lease in October 2016.

He argued that the inability to manufacture salt on a significant portion of the land was due to factors beyond his control—particularly the encroachment of slums, hutments, and industrial units along the western boundary, which discharged sewage and effluents onto the salt pans.

In August last year, Justice Sandeep Marne, sitting as a single judge, upheld the termination of the lease and directed that the entire 782 acres be returned to the salt commissioner. The court stressed that the lease was explicitly for salt manufacturing and did not confer any broader rights to the land.

“In a city like Mumbai, where land prices are among the highest in the country, permitting the use of 782 acres of land for salt manufacturing cannot be confused with creating any vested right in the land for the lessee,” Justice Marne had said. “This is not a lease for housing or industrial use. The moment the lessee ceases salt production, the land must be returned to the lessor.”