Bombay HC Dismisses Developer’s Suit Over Kanjurmarg Salt Pan Lease, Clears Path For Metro Line 6 Depot

Mumbai, March 18: The Bombay High Court (HC) has dismissed a long-pending suit filed by a private developer, Maheshkumar Garodia, challenging the 2004 termination of a salt pan land lease in Kanjurmarg, clearing the decks for the Metro Line 6 depot project on a crucial portion of the land.

Court rules suit became infructuous

Justice Sandeep Marne allowed a revision application filed by the Union of India and quashed a 2022 order of the City Civil Court, which had refused to dismiss the developer’s suit. The HC held that the civil suit itself had become “infructuous” after the lease expired in 2016.

“The Civil Revision Application succeeds… the civil suit is accordingly dismissed,” the court said on Tuesday. It added that there was no need to adjudicate the validity of the 2004 termination once the lease period had ended.

Dispute over century-old lease

The dispute pertains to nearly 251 acres of salt pan land in Kanjur village, originally leased in 1917 for 99 years to the predecessor of developer Maheshkumar Gordhandas Garodia of the Garodia Group.

The lease was terminated by the Centre’s Salt Department in November 2004, prompting Garodia to file a suit seeking a declaration that the lease remained valid and subsisting.

However, during the pendency of the suit, the lease tenure expired on October 14, 2016. The Centre subsequently moved an application seeking dismissal of the case on the ground that the cause of action no longer survived.

Court rejects developer’s arguments

Rejecting the developer’s arguments, the HC observed that the only substantive relief sought in the suit was a declaration of the lease’s subsistence, which “has been rendered infructuous with expiry of tenure.” The court further noted that no amendment seeking renewal of the lease had been incorporated in the plaint even years after the expiry.

“The current suit, which is dead, cannot be kept pending indefinitely for enabling the plaintiff to espouse [a] new cause of action,” the bench said.

Principle against infructuous litigation emphasised

The court also relied on the principle that courts must weed out infructuous litigation, observing that it is their duty to remove such cases from their docket using inherent powers.

Land crucial for infrastructure projects

The ruling comes amid ongoing developments over the Kanjurmarg land, a key site for infrastructure projects. A portion of around 15 hectares has been earmarked for the Metro Line 6 depot being developed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

The court refused the developer’s request to stay the judgment for four weeks, accepting the Centre’s contention that no rights in the property survived.

Earlier developments in land dispute

Earlier, the dispute between the Centre and the state government had come to an end after the Salt Department decided to allot the land to the Maharashtra government last year. The Centre also withdrew its plea challenging the transfer of land to MMRDA.

Last month, the HC had cleared the way for the depot by rejecting Garodia’s challenge to transfer of the land to MMRDA for construction of the Metro-6 depot.

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Metro Line 6 project overview

A fully elevated 15-kilometre-long Metro Line 6, with a corridor planned over eastern and western suburbs, will connect Swami Samarth Nagar, Jogeshwari, Vikhroli and Kanjurmarg with 13 stations. The metro corridor could not have been commissioned without a functioning depot on 15 hectares of land at Kanjurmarg.

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