HC vacates stay on implementation of SRA’s Santacruz (E) project land, seeks removal of encroachments on MU land

The plea had sought direction to authorities to delineate and separate plots belonging to MU and hand over their possession to the university.

In December 2025, advocate Yuvraj Narvankar for MU had stated that he would take instructions from university officials and the matter was posted for further hearing in February this year. On February 20, Narvankar stated that he had written instructions to withdraw the plea, however, MU’s relevant land described in a “Sanad” dated October 26, 1987 be permitted to be demarcated considering certain encroachments on the land. The court noted that there was no objection by other parties to MU’s request.

“We accordingly direct the City Survey Officer to undertake the appropriate demarcation of the land mentioned in the Sanad, as may be applied by the petitioner university. We also direct the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai to take appropriate steps in accordance with law to remove the encroachments, if any, on the petitioner university land as described in the Sanad, if so identified, after demarcation,” the HC directed.

The court kept contentions of all private parties in respect of demarcation open.”Thus, the writ petition does not require adjudication any further in view of the stand taken by the petitioner university. It is accordingly allowed to be withdrawn, however, subject to the above observations. Interim order stands vacated,” the HC noted.

The MU through its plea had claimed that the state government initiated land acquisition in 1962, acquiring it in parcels for transfer to MU. Though acquisition proceedings were finalised for some portions, mutation entries remained pending, therefore original owners’ names continued to appear revenue records.

Owners exploited this, entering transactions and allowing encroachments on the land vested for educational purposes, Narvankar argued. MU said slum dwellers formed a society, proposing SRA for redevelopment scheme which may be commercially exploited by the developer. Narvankar said it was “unthinkable” to find any other land in Mumbai in today’s times.

However, the SRA, developer, and society of slum dwellers had claimed certain parcels were excluded from acquisition.