State Govt Took No Effective Steps For 30 Years: Bombay High Court Constitutes High Power Committee To Protect Sanjay Gandhi National Park

Considering that since last 30 years, the Maharashtra Government has failed to protect the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) at Mumbai's Borivli area, the Bombay High Court recently appointed a High Power Committee (HPC) under former Allahabad High Court Chief Justice (retd.) Dilip Bhosale, to suggest measures to the State to protect that forest region.

A division bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad noted that the initial orders to protect the SGNP were passed in 1997 and from then till now, in the last three decades, several such orders have been passed for construction of a boundary wall around the forest region to avoid encroachments, to evict encroachers etc.

However, despite such orders in place the State failed to comply with the said orders and thus a petition seeking initiation of contempt of court action against the State was filed in 2023.

"Thirty years have elapsed and various orders have been passed by this Court since 1997 but the State Government has taken no effective steps for compliance of the orders of the Court and, thus, committed gross contempt of Court. Various affidavits have been filed by the State Government seeking to place on record certain steps that they have taken and difficulties faced by them in compliance of the orders of the Court," the judges noted in the order passed on October 16.

The judges noted that the State was ordered to construct a boundary wall upto nearly 154 kms however, it could only manage to construct 49 kms, which led to encroachment of the land there. "Considering the present scenario, and to ensure that steps are taken for protection of SGNP, a crown jewel for the cities of Mumbai and Thane, we called upon the Advocate General, the senior counsel and other counsels appearing in this litigation to furnish a proposal which could streamline this process and ensure that the park is protected," the bench said.

Based on the suggestions, the judges deemed it necessary to constitute a High Power Committee of the following persons:

(i) Justice Dilip hosale, Former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court … Chairman

(ii) Nitin Kareer, Former Chief Secretary of the State of Maharashtra … Member

(iii) Subodhkumar Jaiswal, Former Director General of Police, State of Maharashtra … Member

(iv) Anita Patil, Conservator of Forests and Director of SGNP, Borivali … Member Secretary

In its order, the judges specified the scope of reference of the Committee as under:

(i) To ensure the expeditious construction of a boundary wall along with the limits of Sanjay Gandhi National Park to prevent any further encroachments,

(ii) To suggest measures for the compliance of the orders passed by this Court and such other measures are required to be taken for the protection of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park,

(iii) To suggest measures and steps to be taken including identification of the lands and construction and funding of rehabilitation tenements for rehabilitating the encroachers in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park,

(iv) To take inputs from all concerned agencies in identification of the lands where the construction of rehabilitation tenements can be carried out,(v) For removal of encroachments from Sanjay Gandhi National Park,

(vi) To enquire into the various Interim Applications pending before this Court including Interim Application No.9878 of 2025 filed by the State Government and after hearing of the necessary parties, submit a report to this Court as regards each of the pending Interim Applications.

"All agencies of the State Government shall render fullest support and co-operation and furnish such information to the Committee as may be required including office space, vehicles, secretarial assistance, police assistance and such other infrastructure or other assistance as may the Committee require," the bench ordered. The bench further ordered that the HPC chairperson must be paid Rs 1 lakh and other members Rs 55 thousand, per sitting.

"Any failure to render assistance to High Power Committee or refusal or disobedience of any request, order, directions of the High Power Committee shall be treated as breach of this order and appropriate proceedings including contempt proceedings may be taken against the concerned persons," the judges made it clear.

The Committee shall submit its first report before this Court within three months from the date of the first meeting of the Committee, the judges added.

Case Title: Samyak Janhit Seva Sanstha vs Union of India [Contempt Petition (Lodging) 9237 of 2023)

Click Here To Read/Download Order