The Bombay High Court has issued show-cause notices to Maharashtra minister Ganesh Naik, former legislator Sandeep Naik, the state government, the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and other plot holders over allegations that three industrial plots in Navi Mumbai’s Mahape-Khairane area are being used for political offices and other non-industrial purposes.
The notices followed a public interest litigation filed by Balasaheb Mirje, a social worker from Vashi and Maharashtra state secretary of the Republican Party of India. The petition claims that plots A-14, A-15 and A-16 are being used for purposes different from those approved when the industrial land was allotted.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Adwait M. Sethna heard the matter. The court’s notice seeks responses from the parties named in the petition; the allegations have not been established as findings against the plot holders.
According to the petition, plot A-14 was allotted to Greenscape Developers Pvt. Ltd. for industrial and engineering activity. The petitioner alleges that the plot is instead being used commercially and as a warehouse. The report does not provide the allotment terms, approvals or details of the alleged commercial activity beyond the claims recorded in the petition.
Plot A-15 was allotted to Sarth Infotech for information technology and IT-enabled services, the petition states. It alleges that the premises are being used as an office of a political party and for commercial meetings. The petition also claims that plot A-16, allotted to Nishant Foods Pvt. Ltd. for bread and biscuit manufacturing, is being used for political and other non-industrial office-related activities.
The case places the permitted use of MIDC land at the centre of a wider administrative question: whether industrial plots are continuing to serve the activities for which they were allotted, and how deviations are identified and acted upon. MIDC is responsible for developing industrial areas and administering industrial land, while the state government is among the parties named in the proceedings.
The petition’s allegations concern three adjoining or identified plots in the Mahape-Khairane industrial area rather than a general finding about all industrial land in Navi Mumbai. The court’s notices create a formal opportunity for the respondents and authorities to present their positions and records before the matter proceeds further.
Further developments will depend on the responses filed by the state government, MIDC, the named plot holders and the other parties before the Bombay High Court.
