The Bombay High Court has rejected a petition seeking the exclusion of over 200,000 sq m of land in Dharavi Koliwada from the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP), stating that the challenge was raised too late in the process. “It is too late in the day,” observed a division bench of justices Makarand Karnik and SM Modak while dismissing the plea filed by the Dharavi Koli Jamat Trust, which represents the local fishing community.
The petition argued that, based on findings by the fisheries and city survey departments, a 200,830 sq m land parcel forms part of Dharavi Koliwada—one of Mumbai’s original fishing villages—and should be kept outside the redevelopment plan. The trust, through advocates Ravi Gadagkar and Usha Gadagkar, also alleged a delay of nearly 15 years by Maharashtra’s revenue and urban development departments in determining and finalising the area’s official boundaries.
According to the plea, a committee formed in November 2018, comprising officials from the revenue and fisheries departments, had identified the full extent of Dharavi Koliwada, including the gaothan and adjoining spaces traditionally used by the fishing community. It contended that these areas required proper demarcation and exclusion from the DRP.
However, the petition stated that while residential structures belonging to fisherfolk were excluded, shared and cultural spaces—such as the Holi Maidan used for drying fish and nets, a temple complex, three churches, a cemetery, a crematorium, and other open grounds used for festivals—had been included in the project despite repeated representations to authorities.
The court noted that the redevelopment project had been formally notified in March 2016 and has since progressed significantly, with rights already granted to multiple stakeholders, including housing societies that have accepted the plan. “To interfere at the instance of the petitioner at such a belated juncture would amount to an unwarranted exercise of the extraordinary writ jurisdiction of this court,” the bench said.
It further observed that the land in question has “already lost its character” and has become the “subject matter of encroachments and agglomeration of slums,” limiting the trust’s claim over the entire area. While the court allowed the trust to make a representation regarding boundary demarcation, it noted that such an exercise would have limited impact, as the 2016 notification has already attained finality.
Source: Hindustan Times
