Mumbai’s choked public spaces, the Bombay High Court has directed the city’s police and civic authorities to take immediate action against the dumping of abandoned and confiscated vehicles on public roads and footpaths.
The directive, issued on 8 May, calls for strict adherence to existing traffic guidelines and places the responsibility squarely on enforcement agencies to ensure Mumbai’s streets are no longer misused as dumping grounds.The court’s intervention came during the hearing of a plea by the Marathon Maxima Co-operative Housing Society in Mulund, which reported persistent dumping of vehicles by a nearby police station, blocking access to its premises and raising safety concerns. The Division Bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Advait Sethna acknowledged the gravity of the issue and reminded the city’s authorities of their obligation to manage civic space with foresight and discipline.
“There is a severe space crunch in Mumbai. Roads cannot be turned into graveyards for vehicles,” the bench remarked, urging the traffic police and municipal officials to treat the issue as a matter of urban governance and not merely of parking or policing.While the additional commissioner of police, traffic, assured the court that a directive had already been issued to move such vehicles to designated dumping yards, the judges clarified that relocation alone was insufficient. They stressed that a structured disposal mechanism—through scrapping, auctioning, or recycling—must be established at the ward level.
The court noted that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has awarded a contract to a private firm to assist in the identification and removal of such vehicles. However, the judges cautioned against bureaucratic inertia and insisted that results must be measurable and transparent. Officers who fail to comply could face disciplinary action, the court warned.Experts believe this judicial push could be a turning point in how urban centres like Mumbai treat public infrastructure. Abandoned vehicles are not just visual blight—they occupy critical emergency access lanes, contribute to urban heat islands, and become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and rodents. In a high-density city like Mumbai, where every square metre of land is contested, repurposing this lost space is essential.
The matter is now posted for further hearing on 2 July, by which time the traffic police are expected to present a long-term action plan. This includes identification of designated disposal sites in every municipal ward and a framework to prevent further accumulation of dumped vehicles.
As Mumbai aspires to become a sustainable and inclusive metropolis, the court’s stand reiterates the need to treat public land as a shared resource—managed with accountability, urgency, and public interest at its core.
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Mumbai court orders removal of dumped vehicles
