Bombay HC Orders Judicial Inquiry Into 17 Illegal Buildings On Green-Zone Land In Thane, Warns TMC Of Action

Mumbai: Calling the matter one that “would shock the conscience of the Court”, the Bombay High Court has ordered an immediate site inspection and a full-fledged judicial inquiry into 17 buildings that have sprung up without permission on roughly 5.5 acres of green-zone land in Thane.

The court has directed the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) to map every unauthorised building in the city, including those in green zones, and “act before it is too late.” Warning that continued inaction may force the court to place the civic body under an alternate administrative regime, the bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Arif Doctor said the present case “would shock the conscience of the Court.”

The bench, hearing a petition filed by senior citizen Subhadra Takle said the case was a textbook example of “land grabbing by a land mafia or land sharks”. The court noted in its order that the constructions had come up “without any permission from the planning authority and that too by grabbing lands belonging to third parties,” the judges noted.

Takle’s plea, through advocate AH Modi and Shafik Ahmed, alleged that land mafia has usurped her family’s 5.5-acre property at Shil village, Thane, and erected 17 multistorey blocks without any approvals. The petitioner had earlier written to the Chief Minister on 24 January, claiming the builders were “linked with the underworld.”

The judges expressed disbelief that such “massive construction” could rise “without the blessings of Government and Municipal Officers,” adding: “It would be difficult to believe that there is at all any rule of law when it comes to illegal constructions and whether the Thane Municipal Corporation is at all alive to what is happening under its feet.”

Citing the Supreme Court’s ruling in M.I. Builders v. Radhey Shyam, the bench reiterated that illegal structures “need to be demolished” and stressed that “greedy purchasers, who are a different category of citizens as opposed to those citizens who would purchase tenements which are lawfully constructed, they cannot assert rights in regard to illegal construction.”

The HC directed the court-appointed officer to conduct immediate inspection of petitioner’s land in presence of TMC commissioner with police protection and submit a report before next hearing on June 19. “We would not dispense the Municipal Commissioner not visiting, considering such gross illegality,” the order states.

The bench further ordered a senior judicial officer to investigate “the role of all the persons who have undertaken the illegal constructions and the role of the municipal officers…” Statements of every relevant official, including the Commissioner, must be recorded. A report is due within six weeks.

The judges expressed that the TMC affidavit, that not only opposed the petition but also blamed the petitioner, was “thoroughly dissatisfying”.

However, the TMC admitted the constructions were illegal, and said the first concrete steps (requests to cut water and power) were taken only after the court’s 9 June hearing. The bench said mere notices and police complaints were “not sufficient” when work was “rampant.”

Taking a serious view of the large-scale illegality, the HC had ordered the Commissioner to survey “all such illegal constructions in the different wards and more particularly in the developing areas of Thane,” with special attention to green belts and no-development zones. Any discovery of unlawful buildings must be “immediately attended and removed in accordance with law.”

If TMC fails, the court warned, it could invoke provisions of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act to install “a different/separate machinery” to run the city. The Commissioner’s compliance report must be filed alongside the judicial officer’s findings.

The report is expected to be filed next week. Depending on its contents, the bench said it is prepared to pass “further appropriate orders in the larger interest of the rule of law”—including disciplinary action against errant officials and demolition directives.