Citing the financial loss it is incurring, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which is the Metro Rail implementing body in the city, on Tuesday, urged the Bombay High Court to reconsider the December 2020 order by which all construction activities at the Kanjurmarg site have stayed. MMRDA sought permission to kickstart the stayed construction work of the Metro carshed at the Kanjurmarg site.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish Kulkarni said it would consider the matter finally on March 12.
On Tuesday, when the plea filed by the union government, claiming ownership of the 102 acres of land parcel at Kanjurmarg, came up for hearing before the bench led by the Chief Justice, advocate Saket Mone, appearing for the MMRDA, told the judges that the authority has filed an application and sought to recall the December 2020 order that stayed all construction activities at the carshed site.
Mone stressed on the fact that, if the carshed isn't constructed within a reasonable time, then at least three Metro lines would not get commissioned. "The lines - Metro III (Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ), Metro IV (Kasarwadavli-Wadala) and the Metro VI line (Lokhandwala-Vikhroli) would not be commissioned if the carshed is not constructed in time. Further, it would not be made available for the public and they would continue to face difficulties in their daily commute," the application stated.
"Apart from this, even MMRDA, being the implementing authority, is incurring huge financial loss due to the delay caused by the December 16, 2020, order that stayed construction work at the site," the plea adds.
Notably, the union as well as the Maharashtra government are at loggerheads over the ownership of the 102 acres of land at Kanjurmarg, which has been identified for the carshed. The HC bench, led by CJ Datta, had in October, last year, ordered the city's suburban collector to conduct a fresh hearing in the ownership dispute between the union and the state governments and pass a proper order.
