The court restrained DMRCL from carrying out its ongoing operations on the land till further orders. The case will be heard next in February 2021.
Mumbai| The Bombay High court here, in a setback to the Maharashtra government, passed an interim order Wednesday, staying the transfer of 102-acres of land to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to build a metro car shed. The order came in a petition from the centre, which has claimed the land belonged to it.
Through the Mumbai Suburban District Collector, the state government had ordered the transfer of the Kanjurmarg salt pan land on October 1. On October 6, it was handed over to MMRDA. Subsequently, MMRDA transferred the land to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRCL) on October 8.
A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish S Kulkarni, in its order, restrained DMRCL from carrying out its ongoing operations on the land till further orders. The case will be heard next in February 2021.
The order comes two days after the HC asked the Maharashtra government to consider whether the collector could withdraw the order transferring the land to the MMRDA.
Aaditya Thackeray, a minister in Maharashtra government, tweeted after the order was passed. “Hon’ble HC has granted a stay to Kanjurmarg work. We await the detailed written order to decide the future course of action. This land is crucial for Metro Line 6, 4 and 14, apart from 3, as it will save almost ₹5500 crores of Govt and be a nodal point for 1 crore citizens,” Mr Thackeray said.
Hon’ble HC has granted a stay to Kanjurmarg work. We await the detailed written order to decide the future course of action.
This land is crucial for Metro Line 6, 4 and 14, apart from 3, as it will save almost ₹5500 crores of Govt and be a nodal point for 1 crore citizens.— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) December 16, 2020
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, in October, had scrapped the Metro car shed project in Aarey in suburbaan Goregaon, which was chosen by the then BJP-led government, and shifted the train car shed project to Kanjurmarg.
The Union government, following that, had filed a petition in the high court challenging the decision on October 1, 2020.
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