Mumbai, September 11, 2026: The Bombay High Court has upheld the Maharashtra government’s decision to remove a gate installed by a housing society on a road passing through government land in Khar, observing that the society could not convert a public access route into an exclusive passage.
Justice Arun R. Pedneker, on Thursday, said the access had to remain available to the society as well as other persons. The court, however, clarified that the State could not stop the society from using the access without following due process and issuing proper notice.
Society Challenges Gate Removal
The Deccan Co-operative Housing Society had challenged an order passed by the Mumbai Suburban Collector directing removal of the gate. The society claimed that it had been using and maintaining the access for several decades and that the gate was part of its settled possession.
The society’s counsels Pravin Samdani and Bhushan Deshmukh also argued that the access formed part of land allotted to it and that the Collector could not order removal of the gate without giving it notice or an opportunity to be heard.
Court Examines Government Land
The court, however, found that the strip of land on which the gate stood belonged to the government and was not part of the land allotted to the society in 1959.
The court noted that the society had initially been given temporary access through the government land because its plot was landlocked and the proposed 44-feet-wide Development Plan (DP) road had not been constructed. The permission specifically required the society to discontinue the temporary access once the DP road was completed. The road has since been constructed and is being used by the society.
No Exclusive Right Over Access
The court said the society had only been granted a right of access and not exclusive possession of the government land.
“The Petitioner has no right to put up a gate on an access road,” the court said, adding that the government land could not be taken for the exclusive use of the society.
The court also rejected the society’s argument that an interim protection granted in a separate civil suit prevented removal of the gate. It held that the gate and access strip did not form part of the subject matter of that suit.
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Access Must Remain Open
While upholding the gate’s removal, Justice Pedneker cautioned that the State could not grant exclusive use of the access to another party.
“The access shall remain open to the Petitioner as well as to others,” the court directed.
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