Petition to Transfer Land Earmarked for Government Sports Complex to Private Builders Denied

A Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) against the Bombay High Court decision vetoing the shifting of the government sports complex from Navi Mumbai was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

The Government of Maharashtra had earmarked 20 acres of vacant land in Navi Mumbai in 2003 to build a Government Sports Complex. A dent was caused to the demarcation when CIDCO floated a tender in 2016 inviting bids to allot part of the land for residential and commercial use. The State Government in the meantime, proposed to set up the complex in a rural area 115 km away from the existing site. The proposed location lacked the basic necessary infrastructure, much less internationally accepted for a sports complex. The decision was challenged through a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Navi Mumbai Centre of the Indian Institute of Architects.

The Bombay High Court had held that the State Government’s decision to relinquish CIDCO’s land was brazenly illegal, arbitrary and against public interest. Further, the court had opined that concretization and commercial utilization of lands earmarked for such public facilities need to be curtailed. CIDCO had been directed to hand over the entire land to the State Government for utilisation in the sports complex. While dismissing the petition, the Apex Court expressed discontent over the state government’s decision with the remark, “We need some green spaces for our children, especially in cities like Mumbai.”