The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Bombay High Court verdict that had restored nearly 120 hectares of land in Mumbai’s Kanjurmarg area as a “protected forest.”
The decision paves the way for the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) to proceed with plans to use the land as a garbage landfill.
A bench headed by Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran passed the stay order after hearing arguments from Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared on behalf of the Maharashtra state government.
Mehta argued that the land, measuring 119.91 hectares, was mistakenly notified as protected forest land, despite being used for solid waste disposal. He said the state authorities had corrected the error through a de-notification process.
“We will stay the order,” the bench said, issuing relief to the state.
When an opposing lawyer objected, the court bluntly asked, “You tell us where the garbage can be dumped now?”
Bombay HC Had Reinstated Forest Status
The Bombay High Court, in its May 2 ruling, had quashed the state’s corrigendum that removed the forest status of the land. It held that the original forest notification was based on factual review and that the revised notification was “unsustainable and in conflict with legal requirements” for de-reservation of forest land.
“The impugned notification to exclude 119.91 hectares of land… deserves to be quashed and set aside,” the High Court ruled, rejecting the government’s argument that the forest tag was a clerical mistake.
PIL By Environmental Group Triggered Case
Court’s verdict came in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in 2013 by Vanashakti, an environmental NGO. The PIL challenged the de-notification of land in village Kanjur, originally designated as protected forest.
Despite its classification, the land was already being used as a garbage dump, with the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MOEFCC) granting environment clearance in 2009 for such use.
The MCGM maintained that the 2022 notification was simply a correction of a prior error, and not a fresh de-reservation.
With the court stay, the state government and civic authorities can continue garbage management operations on the site—at least until further hearings are held. The stay also temporarily eases pressure on Mumbai’s overburdened waste disposal system, as alternatives remain limited.
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