Mumbai | September 8, 2026
The National Green Tribunal has directed the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) not to distribute plots in the Wadala Truck Terminal notified area until the authority obtains prior environmental clearance for the entire site, placing a proposed BKC-style development project on hold.
The order was issued by the Pune-based Western Zone Bench of the tribunal, comprising judicial member Dinesh Kumar Singh and expert member Dr Sujit Kumar Bajpai. The proceedings followed an application filed by social activist Arun Gaikwad, who argued that plot distribution had taken place without the environmental approval required for a notified area measuring more than 50 hectares.
Under the tribunal’s direction, MMRDA must obtain prior environmental clearance from the competent authority for the complete Wadala notified area before allocating further plots. Plot owners who have already secured environmental clearance will also have to comply with the terms and conditions attached to the environmental approval issued for the Wadala notified area. Construction by such owners can continue only in accordance with their valid environmental clearance, the order states.
The Wadala Truck Terminal site covers 122 hectares. The Maharashtra government has designated MMRDA as the special planning authority for the area, where the authority has proposed residential and non-residential plots, schools, colleges, transport facilities, commercial complexes and other buildings.
MMRDA had turned to the Wadala site after the open plots in the Bandra-Kurla Complex, where it functions as the special planning authority, were sold. The authority has been seeking revenue from land sales to support its infrastructure projects. The tribunal’s order now restricts that process until the required environmental clearance is obtained.
The applicant also raised concerns about large areas reserved for gardens being altered through changes in land use. According to the lawyer representing the applicant, Aditya Pratap, environmental clearance for the entire site would have required the boundaries of gardens, open grounds and other environmentally important areas to be clearly identified.
Pratap said the order could help prevent uncontrolled construction and may have implications for other projects that begin without environmental clearance. Those claims form part of the applicant’s response to the tribunal’s decision and were not independently assessed in the report.
An MMRDA spokesperson told Loksatta that the authority had received a copy of the tribunal’s order and would take the necessary action in accordance with its directions. The order does not cancel previously issued environmental clearances, but requires their holders to follow the applicable conditions while the broader clearance process for the notified area remains pending.
