Bombay HC Orders Strict Disposal Of Abandoned Vehicles, Rejects Storage On Public Roads

Mumbai: In a city like Mumbai, where open space is at a premium, public areas cannot be turned into dumping grounds for abandoned or seized vehicles, the Bombay High Court has said. It stressed the need for strict implementation of traffic police directives on the disposal of such vehicles.

A bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Advait Sethna, in an order dated May 8, emphasised that merely moving these vehicles to dumping yards is not enough — there must be ongoing efforts to dispose of them.

“In a city like Mumbai, which faces acute space constraints, public roads and footpaths cannot be encroached upon by storing vehicles seized or confiscated by the police,” the court said.

The observations came while hearing a petition filed by the Marathon Maxima Co-operative Housing Society in suburban Mumbai. The society had raised concerns about the local police station leaving confiscated or towed vehicles outside its gates, obstructing access and causing inconvenience.

An affidavit filed by the Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) informed the court that all police stations had been directed to move such vehicles to designated dumping yards.

However, the bench said the state government must also identify suitable locations in each municipal ward for this purpose. It added that dumping alone is insufficient if the vehicles are no longer needed.

“Continuous steps must be taken to dispose of such vehicles. Appropriate advisories for their disposal must be issued,” the court directed. The court has scheduled the next hearing for July 2 and asked the traffic department to outline long-term solutions to address the issue.

It also made it clear that the directives issued by the traffic department must be strictly adhered to by all police stations. “We clarify that the directions issued by the traffic department are not to fall on deaf ears and must be implemented meticulously,” the court said.

Any violation of the directives would attract departmental action against the responsible officers, it warned. The traffic police’s affidavit also noted that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has contracted a private firm to identify and scrap such abandoned vehicles.