Mumbai’s Green Revolution: Court Gives BMC 90 Days to Restore Mangrove Magic at Kanjurmarg

In a landmark judgment, the Bombay High Court has directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to restore the 120-hectare Kanjurmarg dumping ground to its original state as a mangrove forest within three months. The order, delivered by a division bench of Justices Girish S. Kulkarni and Somasekhar Sundaresan, comes as a significant setback for both the Maharashtra government and the BMC, which had used the site as Mumbai’s largest landfill for nearly 15 years.

 

The court's ruling is a result of a plea made by NGO Vanashakti in 2013 against the 2009 de-notification of the land's 'protected forest' status for use as landfilling. The bench held that the de-notification was against procedure under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, and set aside the government's action as illegal. It pointed out that any future proposal to change the status of the land must adhere strictly to due legal process.

 

Whereas the BMC and state government contended that the de-notification was a correction of a previous mistake, the court held that the land was correctly identified as a mangrove area and that its conversion to a landfill had caused extensive environmental harm, including loss of mangrove cover.

 

The BMC has been directed to meet the order within three months, if necessary, by taking the required forest clearances. The state government is likely to appeal the judgment in the Supreme Court, but the current restoration of the Kanjur site is a big win for mangrove protection and environmental causes in Mumbai.

 

Source: Hindustan Times