Kanjurmarg lands owned by defence & salt depts; Maharashtra govt, others can’t stake claim: Centre to HC

The Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, soon after coming to power in 2019, had scrapped the proposed Metro car shed at Aarey and was seeking the 102-acre of salt pan land in Kanjurmarg to build the shed and an interchange station for Metro lines 3 (Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ), 4 (Kasarwadavali-Wadala) and 6 (Lokhandwala-Vikhroli).

Various parties, including the Centre, the state and a private entity, are staking claim on the Kanjurmarg land.

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The Union government’s salt commissioner and Defence estates officer filed affidavits in reply to a plea by the state government, which claimed that a private firm, Adarsh Water Parks and Resorts Private limited, in October, 2020, had fraudulently obtained an order for over 6,000 acres of land in Kanjurmarg village.

The affidavit filed by Pooja P Palicha, Defence Estates Officer,, Mumbai circle, stated that it holds nearly 220 acre land in Kanjurmarg and came to know about the decree granted to a private firm only after the state government filed an application. Stating that the decree was a “fraud played on court and government”, the officer sought consent terms of the deal to be set aside.

C Raghu, Deputy Salt Commissioner, filed an affidavit stating that the department owned at least 1600 acres of lands in Kanjurmarg-Bhandup area, which were acquired for public purpose of construction of salt works and for departmental offices and other buildings, adding that it held all right title and interest and possession of the subject land as on date.

“The applicant (state) has no right, title and interest of whatsoever nature in respect of subject land. No other party, be it the applicant or parties to the suit can deal with subject land in any manner. In view of the fact that subject land is owned by the Salt department, the consent terms ought to be set aside,” the affidavit read.

A single-judge bench of Justice Anil K Menon is likely to conduct the hearing on the plea on a regular basis starting Monday, June 13.

The previous BJP-led Maharashtra government, under CM Devendra Fadnavis, had planned to build a Metro car shed at Aarey Milk Colony. A day after taking over reins of the state, Uddhav Thackeray, on November 29, 2019, overturned Fadnavis’s decision to build the shed at Aarey, which is one of the last vestiges of greenery in Mumbai.

Earlier, just ahead of the assembly polls, Thackeray’s son Aaditya, now Maharashtra’s Environment Minister, had spearheaded the protests against Fadnavis’s decision to allow overnight chopping of 2500 trees at the Aarey site and had promised the relocation of the car shed from the area.

After taking over as Chief Minister, Thackeray had announced the scrapping of the ongoing car shed at Aarey and said the project would come up on the salt pan land at Kanjurmarg instead.

In October, 2020, the state government, through the Mumbai suburban district collector, had ordered transfer of 102-acre plot of Kanjurmarg salt pan land to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).The MMRDA then transferred the land to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRCL), which was to build the car shed and an interchange station for proposed Metro corridors.

On December 16, 2020, in a setback to the state government, the HC, while hearing the central government’s plea through its salt commissioner laying claim to the land, stayed the order of the collector. The stay was extended from time to time.

Earlier this year, the Union Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) ministry had written to the Maharashtra Chief secretary to reconsider the decision to shift the project to Kanjurmarg, citing reports prepared by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

The letter, dated March 17 and written by an undersecretary of MoHUA, stated that the DMRC, which is assisting the Mumbai Metropolitan Rail Corporation Limited(DMRC) in the Metro line 3 Colaba-Bandra-Seepz, has cited a long-term operational and maintenance difficulties in the line if the car shed is shifted to Kanjurmarg from Aarey.