Mumbai: Bombay high court on Friday rapped the state govt for allowing encroachers inside Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) at Borivali East.
“We want the park to be restored at the earliest. We will not permit it to be damaged. Not at any cost,” said a bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar. It was hearing a contempt petition by Conservation Action Trust over non-compliance with HC’s 1997 direction in a 1995 petition by Bombay Environmental Action Group to save the park from encroachments. HC had then directed the state to clear encroachments and rehabilitate eligible persons.
Senior advocate Janak Dwarkadas, for the trust, urged the court to tag the petition with a PIL by Samyak Janhit Seva Sanstha, a society of slumdwellers, seeking rehabilitation as per HC’s 1997 directions. He referred to HC’s Oct 9 order that directed the Oct 3 decision taken by a high-power committee (HPC), headed by the chief secretary, to be implemented in letter and spirit. The HPC was set up in July 2023 to expedite the rehabilitation process. “Now, we find there is aggravated contempt while the contempt petition is pending for admitted breach of orders in the original 1995 PIL. The committee is operating as if it is not bound by the original order,” said Dwarkadas, adding that the HPC has extended the 1995 cutoff date to 2011. This increases the volume of people in the national park.
Dwarkadas said the state govt’s replies to the contempt petition acknowledged that many of the 11,000 encroachers rehabilitated in phase 1 had returned after selling the rehab premises. “How can you allow 11,000 encroachers in a national park?” the CJ asked. “That is why we point out that if you monetise the benefits of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, it is more than BMC’s annual budget,” he added.
The reference was to a commissioned study released in Sept 2020 on SGNP’s economic valuation done by IIT-Bombay. It stated that SGNP has been valued at Rs 15 lakh crore, and it does not include land value. SGNP also supplies ecosystem services worth Rs 63,417 crore per year. “Just see the kind of contribution. If you monetise that benefit more… the amount of oxygen that is provided, drinking water…” the CJ said.
Dwarkadas said it is a “rare phenomenon of a 104sqkm national park within urban boundaries of the city”. However, it is not valued. Instead, there are “commercial shops and real estate agents sitting in the park”. The judges tagged the trust contempt petition and the PIL and will hear both on Monday.
