Bombay High Court directs joint inspection of SGNP cycle track, seeks clarification from BMC – The Indian Express

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Madhav J Jamdar was hearing a PIL challenging the construction of the proposed cycle track that runs along pipeline road and Vihar lake. The court asked that the inspection be carried out on Tuesday afternoon. Seeking a clarification from the BMC, the bench posted further hearing to Thursday.

The PIL by environmental activist Amrita Bhattacharjee and others challenged the “illegal and unauthorised” project called ‘Green Wheels Along Blue Lines’.

The petitioners, through senior advocate Mihir Desai, claimed that the project would cause a serious impact on the lake’s ecosystem and violated the guidelines under the Implementation of the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017. It said that development activities in environmentally sensitive areas have the “potential to cause severe ecological imbalance with disastrous consequences, including increasing the impact of natural disasters such as flooding that have been a matter of concern for the people in the city”.

Desai also pointed out that the high court, in May this year, had allowed PILs challenging the construction of a cycling and jogging track around Powai lake as it was allegedly built in violation of the Wetlands Rules and said that the cycle track is illegal. The high court perused maps as well as notifications produced by Desai in support of the PIL.

Senior advocate Darius Khambata and advocate Joel Carlos for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), while responding to the court’s queries, took a stand that the cycle track is beyond the eco-sensitive zone of SGNP and since it has been constructed by the side of a municipal road which is already existing within the buffer zone of the park, such construction cannot be held to be illegal. The court, however, noted that the BMC lawyer was not asked to respond to the PIL on merits.

“Be that as it may, we require clarification on certain points including the present status of the cycle track since we have been informed by Khambata that the construction is complete. The petitioner as well as a municipal representative shall be at liberty to visit the office of Revati Kulkarni, Deputy Director (South), SGNP, Borivali at 12.00 noon on Tuesday (October 18). All three of them shall visit the disputed site and take photographs of the allegedly complete disputed cycle track,” the court noted and sought the photographs to be placed before it by the next hearing.

“On the adjourned date, a clarification shall be provided by the BMC with regard to identification of a particular piece of land as CTS No. 15 together with the averments that it has made (in its reply). This is required because the notification specifying the lands covered by SGNP makes no reference to CTS No.15. Also, it has to be made clear by BMC with reference to the map what the green border towards the foot thereof signifies and how the figures have been shown as being comprised of parts of the Vihar Lake as well as adjoining areas in such map,” the order read.