Residential encroachments on state and central government land in Mumbai, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad that existed on or before 1 January 2011 could be brought under a regularisation policy, after the Maharashtra government appointed a 10-member committee to frame the rules.
The committee, headed by the Konkan divisional commissioner, has been asked to examine the issue and submit a report with clear recommendations to the Revenue Department within three months. The move follows instructions from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, after Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule constituted the panel.
The decision extends the scope of a policy decision taken by the Revenue Department on 25 March 2026. That earlier decision covered residential encroachments on government land across Maharashtra dating to before 1 January 2011, but excluded the limits of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Pune Municipal Corporation and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation.
The latest decision brings those three metropolitan areas into consideration. It applies to residential encroachments on land belonging to the state or the Union government, but the government has not yet announced the final eligibility conditions, charges, tenure arrangements or procedure for individual claims. Those details are expected to be addressed in the committee’s recommendations.
The committee includes the district collectors of Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburban and Pune, along with representatives of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority in Mumbai and Pune and the municipal corporations of Mumbai, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. Its composition brings together the revenue, municipal, housing and slum-rehabilitation authorities that control or administer different categories of land in the affected urban regions.
The panel has been directed to study the existing policies of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority and other relevant agencies before proposing a comprehensive framework. It must also make specific recommendations on how encroachments on land owned by the Union government or its subordinate authorities could be regularised.
The inclusion of central government land is significant because such parcels are administered by different departments and agencies and may be subject to separate ownership, lease and development rules. The committee’s recommendations will therefore have to address coordination between state authorities, urban local bodies and central agencies before any regularisation process can begin.
The government’s decision does not itself regularise every residential encroachment in the three municipal areas. It creates a process for determining the conditions under which eligible occupation may be recognised. The final outcome will depend on the policy prepared by the committee and the decisions taken after its report is submitted.
The panel is required to complete its proceedings and submit the report to the Revenue Department within three months. Until that report and subsequent government decisions are issued, the applicable process for individual properties and the treatment of ineligible or disputed claims remain to be clarified.
