MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the city survey officer to demarcate the University of Mumbai’s land at its Kalina campus and remove encroachments, if any, after the university withdrew its petition challenging a slum rehabilitation scheme on the property.
A division bench of justices GS Kulkarni and Aarti Sathe also vacated last year’s interim stay that had restrained the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) and a private developer from proceeding with a rehabilitation project on around 3.7 acres earmarked for the university’s expansion.
The university had approached the court claiming that slum dwellers had encroached on land allotted to it. It said the state had agreed in 1962 to provide land for expansion, acquired parcels in Kalina in 1974 and issued a sanad (allotment letter) in 1987. However, the university’s name was not mutated in revenue records.
According to the plea, two housing societies, Galaxy Heights and Yogiraj Asram, entered into a development agreement with Track Estates, and the SRA issued a letter of intent in June 2022 appointing the developer. The university contended that the land could not be used for slum rehabilitation and that its transfer between private entities was illegal.
In October 2023, the Andheri tehsildar ordered removal of the developer’s name from revenue records, while the SRA’s Apex Grievance Redressal Committee stayed the project in February 2024 over title issues.
In July 2025, the high court had observed that the land, spread across at least 20 plots, could not be used for rehabilitation merely because the state had failed to clear encroachments and hand over possession to the university. It had restrained the developer from acting on the SRA’s letter of intent.
On Friday, advocate Yuvraj Narvankar, appearing for the university, sought permission to demarcate the land as per the 1987 sanad and informed the court that he had instructions to withdraw the petition.
Allowing the withdrawal, the bench directed demarcation of the land and asked the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai to take legal steps to remove encroachments after the process is completed. It clarified that all parties, including the developer, are free to challenge the demarcation in accordance with law.
