Bombay High Court stays State move to cancel penal action against contractors working on Samruddhi Expressway

The Bombay High Court recently stayed the effect of a government resolution empowering the Maharashtra government to cancel punitive proceedings initiated against contractors working on the Samrudhhi Mahamarg over an alleged illegal excavation of minor minerals. [Cozy Properties Private Limited v. State of Maharashtra].A division bench of Justices Rohit B Deo and Anil L Pansare stayed the January 2023 government resolution after it was approached by a construction company, Cozy Properties, whose land was among those acquired by the national highway authorities as part of the Samruddhi project. Cozy Properties moved the Court alleging that Afcons Infrastructures Limited, a contractor engaged for the construction of the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway illegally trespassed into property belonging to Cozy Properties and excavated ‘murrum’ (mineral-rich soil) from more than 100 acres of land.Advocate Firdos Mirza, appearing for Cozy Properties, argued that government resolution violates the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code and was malafide.He told the Court that the resolution was issued only to benefit certain business typhoons who were facing several hundreds of crores worth of penalties.The Court, in turn, issued notice in the matter and stayed the government resolution till the petition is finally heard.“Prima facie, we find formidable substance in the submission by Mirza. In view of the exceptional prima facie case made out, we stay the effect and operation of January 2023 GR”, the Court said. .Cozy Properties had earlier filed a complaint against the same contractor in 2019 over its alleged illegal excavation of minerals, in which case a chargesheet was also filed.Meanwhile, a local Tahsildar (revenue office) also initiated action against the same contractor and issued a show-cause notice to its proprietors. The Tahsildar eventually imposed a fine of ₹226,89,60,900 and additional royalty of ₹238,99,72,148. This was stayed by the High Court in a petition filed by the contractor in 2020.Thereafter, the State government issued its government resolution in 2023. Following this, the contractor filed a plea to quash the 2019 criminal case against it, in view of the 2023 government resolution.In this backdrop, Cozy Properties moved the High Court challenging the validity of the January 2023 government resolution..[Read order]