Mumbai’s ever-shrinking public spaces cannot be turned into junkyards for abandoned or confiscated vehicles, the Bombay High Court has firmly ruled, directing all police stations in the city to strictly follow the traffic police’s protocols on vehicle disposal.
A division bench of Justices G.S. Kulkarni and Advait Sethna, in an order passed on May 8, stated that mere relocation of such vehicles to a dumping yard is not enough. Continuous action must be taken to dispose of them entirely, the court emphasized.
“In a city like Mumbai, which has an acute scarcity of space and limited space on public roads and footpaths, such public spaces cannot be encroached by dumping or storing vehicles seized or confiscated by the police,” the bench observed.
The court was hearing a petition filed by the Marathon Maxima Co-operative Housing Society, which complained about towed and confiscated vehicles being parked outside its gates by a nearby police station, leading to obstruction and inconvenience for residents.
In response, the additional commissioner of police (traffic) filed an affidavit noting that a communication had been issued to all city police stations last month, instructing them to move all such vehicles to designated dumping yards.
While acknowledging the communication, the court said it expects more than passive compliance. “Merely dumping of the vehicles at the dumping site would not suffice. In the event these vehicles are no longer required, a continuous action is required to be taken to dispose of these vehicles, for which appropriate advisory needs to be issued,” the bench said.
The court also asked the state government to identify suitable locations in every municipal ward for dumping seized vehicles and demanded that the traffic department file a status report detailing long-term solutions to the issue at the next hearing scheduled for July 2.
Reiterating the importance of compliance, the court stated: “We clarify that the directions issued by the traffic department ought not to fall on deaf ears and needs to be strictly followed and implemented by the police stations.” It warned that any breach of these orders would attract departmental action against the concerned officers.
According to the affidavit, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has already awarded a contract to a private company for identifying and scrapping such abandoned vehicles.
The High Court’s intervention underscores the urgent need for coordinated action and accountability to reclaim Mumbai’s public spaces from clutter and ensure they serve the citizens, not abandoned machinery.
