Bombay high court stays Mumbai Metro car shed work at Kanjurmarg plot

The court was hearing a petition filed by the Central government seeking stay on the Metro car shed work at Kanjurmarg

In a setback for the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, the Bombay high court (HC) on Wednesday stayed the Mumbai suburban district collector’s October 1 order, which allotted 102 acres of saltpan land at Kanjurmarg to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to construct an integrated car shed for multiple Mumbai Metro corridors. The division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni restrained MMRDA from carrying out any further work on the plot. The authority’s contractor, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited, has been conducting soil testing work at the site in Kanjurmarg.

The Kanjurmarg site. (Pratk Chorge/HT)

The court was hearing a petition filed by the Central government seeking stay on the Metro car shed work at Kanjurmarg. Staking claim over the saltpan land, the Centre had moved HC and challenged the collector’s October 1 order. The Central government has claimed that the entire saltpan lands in the area belong to its salt department and have always been under administrative control of the deputy salt commissioner.

Reacting to the HC order, state environment minister Aaditya Thackeray tweeted, “Hon’ble HC has granted a stay to Kanjurmarg work. We await the detailed written order to decide the future course of action. This land is crucial for Metro Line 6, 4 and 14, apart from 3, as it will save almost ₹5,500 crore of govt and be a nodal point for 1 crore citizens.”

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on October 11 had announced moving the Metro-3 (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) car shed from Aarey Milk Colony to Kanjurmarg, scrapping a decision taken by the Devendra Fadnavis-led government, after environmentalists and citizen groups had demanded shifting the depot to save trees. The MVA government later announced that the car shed at Kanjurmarg would also be utilised for Metro-6 (Swami Samath Nagar-Vikhroli), Metro-4 (Wadala-Kasarwadavali) and Metro-14 (Kanjurmarg-Badlapur).

The HC stay on work at Kanjurmarg is likely to result in delays and cost escalation for Metro lines, especially the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz underground corridor for which more than 60% civil work has been completed.

RA Rajeev, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, however, refused to comment on the impact the order may have on the Metro corridors. “We are waiting for the detailed order,” he said during a press conference in Wadala on Wednesday.

Senior advocate Milind Sathe and advocate Saket Mone, who represented MMRDA, had on Monday highlighted financial benefits of constructing the integrated Metro car shed. They had said MMRDA will have to spend additional amount of Rs2,328 crore on land acquisition and Rs1,600 crore as operational costs, if the integrated car shed at Kanjurmarg was stayed by HC. They had also pointed out that a loss of Rs2.5 crore to Rs3 crore per day will be caused to public exchequer, if the ongoing work of metro car shed at Kanjurmarg was stayed.

The HC stay order, meanwhile, came after the bench noticed that the state government was reluctant to withdraw the October 1 order issued by the collector. The bench had on Monday said it cannot allow the order to remain in force and had asked the government to consider withdrawing it and settle all issues – claims and counterclaims over the land – before proceeding further.

However, on Wednesday, advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni presented a proposal of withdrawing the collector’s October 15 order, which rejected objections raised by the Central government and its purported licensee, Maheshkumar Garodia, over allotment of the saltpan land for building the Metro car shed. Kumbhakoni proposed that the collector hear the Centre and Garodia afresh and pass a fresh order on their objections, and in the meantime, the allotment order and work at the site will continue. Kumbhakoni’s proposal was supported by MMRDA, but was opposed by both, the Centre and Garodia.

HC refused to accept the state’s stand and said it was inclined to set aside the October 1 allotment order, especially in view of the fact that for a considerably long time, the state government had accepted that the Kanjurmarg land belonged to the salt department, which comes under the Central government.

“We will not allow this order to remain on record,” said the bench. “It has to go.”

HC said the collector will have to start proceedings afresh – from considering the MMRDA’s proposal for allotment of the land – and will also have to decide on issues, if any, of jurisdiction raised by the Centre and Garodia.

The advocate general, however, expressed concerns over ongoing work at the site and possession of the land. Pointing out that restoring possession will create several complications, Kumbhakoni said allowing MMRDA to keep possession and continue work will be the least complicated option.

The bench, however, said, “If the [allotment] order goes, status quo ante as of October 1 has to be restored.” Which effectively means MMRDA and its contractor will have to stop the ongoing soil testing work and vacate the plot.

The Centre had moved HC and challenged the October 1 order of the collector, allotting 102 acres out of Survey No 275 (part) to MMRDA. On October 6, the collector transferred possession of the saltpan land to MMRDA and two days later, the authority handed it over to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited, which is constructing the Metro car shed.

Centre has claimed that the entire saltpan lands in the belt, including the 102 acres at Kanjurmarg, belong to its salt department and has always been under administrative control of the deputy salt commissioner.

In a separate petition, the Centre has also challenged the November 1, 2018, order of Maharashtra’s revenue minister. The order upholds addition of names of the state government and some private parties in ownership column of several saltpan lands at Nahur, Mulund, Kanjurmarg, Mandale, Malvani and Pahadi areas in Mumbai.

The court had on Monday also heard a petition filed by Garodia, who, too, has challenged the collector’s order and subsequent transfer of possession of the saltpan land for the Metro car shed.

Senior advocate Shyam Mehta, who represented Garodia, pointed out that his client, a legal representative of the erstwhile salt manufacturer, had beneficial interest in vast tract of saltpan lands, including the 102 acres plot, and he has filed a suit concerning the entire land leased to his predecessors and interim orders are granted in his favour, first by HC, which are subsequently confirmed by Bombay city civil court, after the suit was transferred there.

Mehta pointed out to the bench that the collector was aware of the fact that Garodia was in possession of the land, the suit was pending and that there was interim injunction in his favour, but no notice was issued to him before transferring the land to MMRDA and handing over its possession for construction of the Metro car shed.

Mehta submitted that till January 2020, the technical advisory committee of the state government maintained that Kanjurmarg was not viable for construction of the Metro car shed. Therefore, they changed reservation of the land at Aarey Milk Colony and spent over Rs200 crore for preparations, and now they claim that the Kanjurmarg land is most suitable for the project.

HC had found grounds in Mehta’s complaint that the October 1 order does not even make a reference to the petitioner and the court proceeding. “The order itself shows that the collector is aware of the pending suit, but he just turns a blind eye towards the court proceedings,” said the bench. “Is this a proper exercise of power?”

With inputs from Tanushree Venkatraman