In a victory for citizens and environmentalists who are working towards sustainable development, the Bombay High Court ordered the BMC and its contractors to temporarily stop work and maintain a status quo. A bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Nitin Kamdar passed a verbal order binding on all work with effect from 5 pm on Tuesday 16 April 2019.

The justices were hearing follow up petitions by architect Shweta Wagh and the NGO Society for Improvement of Greenery and Nature. The petitioners alleged that in violation of the BMC's assurance that contractors would not carry on further reclamation work, they had done so. Counsel Janak Dwarkadas, representing Wagh and the petitioners said, “This is not a thee versus they argument, this impacts all of us.”

Court proceedings revealed that the existing work includes areas with species protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act and the BMC has not taken the requisite permissions for work. The BMC’s counsel admitted that while the civic body has obtained clearances for the northern stretch of the road, environmental clearances for the southern part of the road had not been obtained. In response, Chief Justice said that this “notification itself needs consideration” as the “challenge is serious and considerable.”

The Bombay High Court will take up the matter once again on 23rd April 2019.

Update by Aaran Patel who was at Bombay High Court today.