[Mumbai Metro Rail] Central government claims ownership of disputed land at Kanjurmarg in case before Bombay High Court

The Central government has asserted its ownership of the land at Kanjurmarg in Mumbai which is the subject matter of dispute in relation to construction of metro car shed, part of ongoing Mumbai Metro Rail project. .An affidavit to that effect was filed before the Bombay High Court by the Deputy Salt Commissioner and Defence Estates Officer pointing out that the land had always been in Centre’s possession.The affidavit was filed in a disposed of suit of 2006 by which the title of the disputed land came to be purportedly vested with a private company, Adarsh Water Parks and Resorts Pvt. Ltd., through consent terms. The State government claimed to have learnt of said decree only this year and immediately filed an application before the High Court challenging the consent terms and claiming that the company had obtained the land fraudulently.The State proposes to construct a metro car shed for its metro rail project on about 100 acres of the land.The affidavit by the Central government said that it came to know about Adarsh’s claim only after the State filed an application challenging the decree.The affidavit claimed ownership of over 220 acres of land and the defence estates claimed ownership of over 1,600 acres of land.“The applicant 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 stated..The metro car shed was originally planned to be developed at Aarey Colony, which triggered widespread protest and petitions before the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court.After the Shiv Sena led coalition Government came to power in 2019, 800 acres of the Aarey area was declared as a reserved forest and the State decided to develop the car shed at Kanjurmarg instead.The High Court last year granted an interim stay on the transfer of 102 acres of the land to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for carrying out work towards the metro rail project's metro car shed..Note: The story earlier mentioned that the disputed land is located in Aarey colony of Mumbai. The error is regretted.