Shut Down Unauthorised Fish Market, Protect Open Spaces: Bombay HC to Thane Civic Body

The Bombay High Court (HC) has ordered the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) to close a fish market situated on land designated as a road in the 1974 Development Plan. The court also directed the civic body to make sure that mandatory open spaces are not exploited for commercial purposes.

The order came during the hearing of a public interest litigation filed in 2010 by Thane resident Pradip Chandrakant Indulkar. In his PIL, Indulkar claimed that a private plot in Panchpakhadi was encroached upon and used for unapproved commercial activity.

The PIL stated that in 1982, TMC had authorised Unit Arsen Developers (UAD) to construct a shopping centre on land meant for a municipal market. However, the developer allegedly violated the terms by selling shops and commercial units to third parties instead of handing over the complex to the civic authority.

Indulkar’s petition also noted that in 2006, Congress leader and then-corporator Manoj Shinde blocked TMC’s attempts to demolish an unauthorised shed. A later Right to Information request revealed that the shopping complex belonged to Bhadani Brothers through UAD. The structure houses a bank and a hall on the upper floors, with shops on the ground floor.

TMC and UAD denied the claims, saying that the property was privately owned and complied with the Urban Property Ceiling and Regulation Act of 1976. They added that part of the land was reserved for public utilities, open spaces, and roads.

The court bench noted that the area was marked for a market in the Development Plan. The court ordered the city commissioner to act against a pay-and-park facility on mandatory open space but rejected the demand to transfer the building to TMC.

The court further stated that it was unacceptable for a fish market to operate on land designated for a DP road.