MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the state government to finalise the land for rehabilitating the remaining eligible encroachers who occupy an ‘eco-sensitive zone’ of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP). If by Thursday the land has not been identified, the court will initiate contempt actions against the state.
The division bench of chief justice Shree Chandrashekhar and justice Gautam Ankhad was hearing a contempt petition filed by the Conservation Action Trust in 2023. The trust’s petition came after the Samyak Janhit Seva Sanstha in 1995 had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) alleging that the government had failed to rehabilitate slum dwellers in SGNP despite several court orders over 28 years.
The Bombay High Court had in 1997 directed authorities to relocate all slum dwellers living within SGNP limits outside the boundaries of the park, but the state government and forest department have not been able to relocate them yet. According to the forest department, around 2,000 Adivasi families reside in 43 hamlets scattered along the edge of the park. Another 24,951 families have encroached on various parts of the park and are eligible for relocation, a notification issued by the Urban Development Department (UDD) said.
As per the UDD, slum dwellers settled on the forest land prior to 1995 were eligible for a rehabilitation that would be carried out in two phases. In phase 1, 11,359 households were relocated to Chandivali in Powai. In the pending phase 2, the state still has to rehabilitate another 13,486 encroachers.
In March this year, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) had budgeted nearly ₹200 crore in its 2025-26 budget for the rehabilitation of the SNGP encroachers, but still no action has been taken yet.
The court noted the matter and said, “There has been a default on the government’s side”. Acknowledging the state’s failure, advocate general Birendra Saraf suggested that a committee headed by the chief secretary of state should be formed to examine the issue.
Saraf said that would not justify the government’s fault and added, “We cannot run away from this default from our side. We haven’t been able to comply with the orders despite my best efforts.” He told the court that the state had initially found ten alternate plots of land to finalise the project, but neither of the plots held any potential for development due to several reasons including issues with the terrain.
Saraf said that the encroachers in SGNP had been living there for many years and depended on the area for their livelihood. He added that uprooting them and relocating them too far away would cause them hardship.
Dissatisfied with the state’s arguments, the court directed the government to form a special investigation team (SIT) headed by a retired chief secretary. As per the court’s order, the newly formed SIT must submit the names of the encroachers and a report detailing potential plots for their rehabilitation by Thursday.
Earlier in January this year, the court had criticised the government’s inaction despite several court orders from 1997 till now. The bench had also raised concerns over the alleged commercial activities going on within the park. The court had asked the government to relocate the encroachers who had settled at the park after 2011.
Citing the notification issued on December 5, 2016, which declared any construction in ‘eco-sensitive zone’ illegal, the state said that it had directed its authorities not to construct anything in the area until the master plan for the ‘eco-sensitive zone’ was ready. On January 10, in a meeting chaired by the chief secretary, the state authorities discussed finding alternate land for the rehabilitation, but arrived at no conclusions.