The Supreme Court has withdrawn directions freezing the November salary of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Commissioner Ashwini Bhide and issued a further compliance requirement after the civic body removed 27 commercial structures from land reserved for a BEST bus station in Borivali East.
The BMC said the Supreme Court withdrew the relevant portions of its November 3 order after its counsel informed a three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, that steps had been taken to comply with earlier directions on clearing the site. The court also withdrew the show-cause notice issued to Bhide, according to the civic body’s statement.
The 3,400-square-metre plot is located along Swami Vivekanand Road in Borivali East and is reserved for a Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport undertaking bus station under Town Planning Scheme-II. The BMC’s R-Central ward conducted the clearance operation with 70 workers and employees, while police personnel were deployed to maintain security, the corporation said.
The action followed a Supreme Court order issued a day earlier after the bench found that encroachments had not been removed from the plot in accordance with its earlier directions. The court had issued a contempt notice to Bhide, rejected the civic body’s request for an additional 30 days to comply and imposed costs of Rs 5 lakh, the report said.
The plot has been at the centre of a prolonged legal dispute involving the BMC and a private developer. In August 2025, the Supreme Court directed the developer to hand over the plot, along with an administrative building, to the civic corporation free of encroachments.
The dispute has involved not only the recovery of civic land but also the implementation of a reservation for public transport infrastructure. Land reserved for a bus station can affect how the city’s transport network provides space for bus operations, passenger access and supporting municipal facilities. The supplied report does not specify the construction or operational timeline for the proposed BEST facility.
According to the BMC, its counsel, senior advocate R P Bhat, told the court that the civic body had complied with the court’s orders dated November 13, 2025, and July 28, 2026, concerning removal of the encroachments. Following that submission, the bench withdrew paragraphs 1 to 3 of its November 3 order.
The court, however, clarified that it was not expressing any opinion on the extent of compliance. It directed Bhide to file a personal affidavit detailing the steps taken to implement the earlier orders before the next hearing. The affidavit and the next hearing will determine how the court assesses the civic body’s compliance with the directions concerning the Borivali plot.
