Mumbai: Bombay high court on Thursday directed the Thane collector to conduct an inquiry to determine if land on Shri Malang Road, Kalyan (E), on which a 28-storey residential building, Davakhar Elegance, stands, is defence land. The court frowned at the defence authorities for not taking “preventive action”.
“You have to do something about this. We see that in Pune, Kalyan… everywhere we have seen,” said Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Makarand Karnik. They were hearing a PIL filed in 2023 by activists Rajendranath Pandey and Sujeet Kadam to stop the ongoing construction and to constitute a committee headed by a retired HC judge to investigate construction permission given by Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) on land belonging to the Defence Ministry.
The petition stated the land in Pisavli village was acquired under the Defence of India Act and compensation was paid to its owners between 1943-45. In April 2018, the KDMC commissioner granted M/s Davakhar Infrastructure Pvt Ltd permission to construct a residential building on it. In May 2019, the defence estate officer (DEO) wrote to the commissioner that no proposal for construction on defence land be approved under any circumstances and all such approval/sanction must be cancelled forthwith. The DEO also wrote to record its name as the owner of the land. The commissioner replied that the land was already under de-requisition and in view of no clarity on the exact land of defence, mutation cannot be done. In Aug 2021, KDMC issued revised building permissions. Between 2022-23, petitioners made various representations.
Their advocates, Ahmed Abdi and Eknath Dhokale, said the Ministry unequivocally stated the land belongs to it. Senior advocate A S Khandeparkar, for the Ministry, said the developer could not construct upon it. KDMC’s advocate, Sandip Shinde, said permission was given acting on revenue records that showed it is not defence land. Senior advocate Ram Apte, for the developer, said it is a development agreement with the landowners.
Therefore, the judges directed the collector to “conduct a detailed inquiry… and determine the nature” of the land after hearing all parties on May 8. Depending on the outcome of the proceeding, the KDMC chief shall take “appropriate action” on building permission granted to Davakhar. The aforesaid exercise shall be completed within four months.
The judges questioned what preventive action was taken by defence authorities, adding, “you come here when a PIL is filed”. Khandeparkar said, “Apart from writing, they have not done anything.” He would instruct the DEO that “appropriate action has to be taken at the appropriate stage so that this does not happen.”