Decision in public interest': Bombay HC dismisses plea challenging handing over of Thane land to MMRDA for Metro car shed
The Metro car shed facility at Mogharpada in Thane will serve as the central maintenance and operations hub for Metro lines 4, 4A, 10 and 11, covering nearly 56 km from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to Mira Road.
The high court, while rejecting the plea by a society of farmers who claimed to be in possession of the said land for several decades, noted that the government's decision 'cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be said either to be arbitrary or suffer from vice of non-application of mind.'
The bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sandeep V Marne passed the order on a writ petition filed by Kharbhumi Krushi Samnvay Samiti (Reg) and others challenging the GR. 'The decision to transfer the subject land has been taken in public interest for the setting up of Integrated Metro Car Shed Depot, which is a public purpose. A provision has been made for rehabilitation of the leaseholders as well as encroachers… We do not find any merit in this writ petition, which fails and is hereby dismissed,' the high court held.
The petitioners submitted that the MMRDA, on November 13, 2019, informed the Thane district collector about the proposed Metro car shed depot and sought that the subject land be acquired for the project.
On January 12, 2022, the government issued a notice in relation to Mumbai Metro Line 4A (Kasarvadavli to Gaimukh) and the proposed Metro car shed project, after which the collector prepared a list of landholders in January 2023 and transferred the same in favour of the MMRDA on October 15, 2023. Moreover, space was set apart for the coastal road besides land for residential and commercial development. The aggrieved petitioners approached the high court in 2024.
Advocate Ashwin Thool, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that they were not the owners of the subject land belonging to the state government, but they are lessees having cultivating possession for the past several decades, and therefore the impugned decision is arbitrary.
On the other hand, MMRDA's counsel Akshay Shinde submitted that 22.5 per cent and 12.5 per cent component is reserved for the rehabilitation of leaseholders and the encroachers, respectively, and in case the petitioners fall under the said categories, they would be rehabilitated as per the state's decision.
After perusing the submissions, the high court observed that the land belonged to the state government, and it was free to use its land in accordance with the law.
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