Maharashtra govt must take call on mill land: High court

While allowing the demolition of existing structures on the three mills which are to be handed over to the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai ( MCGM) and the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), the Bombay high court today said that the state government was the final authority on the matter.

The court gave the government five months in which to decide whether the structures on these mill lands fall under the heritage category.

The ruling was handed down by a division bench comprising Justice Hemant Gokhale and Justice S R Dongaonkar. The three mills to be handed over the civic authorities for developing public amenities and low cost housing are India United Mills 2 & 3 and the New Hind Mill, all owened by National Textile Corporation.

However, on the 17 other mills which were identified by the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) as mills with the heritage structures on them, court has directed MCGM to invite suggestions and objections from citizens, on whether these structures fall in the category of heritage and submit report to the state government within three months.

Subsequently, the state government has to decide whether these structures are heritage as it is the final authority on the issue, the court observed. The state will have two month's time in which to decide once the MCGM submits its report.

The 17 mills include Dawn, Gokuldas Morarji, Shriram, Piramal, Century, Prakash, Victoria, Phoenix, Khatau, New Great Eastern, Mafatlal, Standard, Shrinivas, Swadesh and Mukesh and Maharshtra State Textile Corporation's Western India Mills.

The court gave the ruling while disposing off the petition filed by the Indian National Trust for Art, Heritage and Culture (INTACH) in which they had demanded that heritage structures on the premises of mills should be protected.

Acting upon the INTACH's petition, the high court had directed the Mumbai Heritage Committee to submit a report on the heritage structures on private and NTC mill lands.

The heritage structures in these mills include structures like chimneys, water bodies, time keepers' offices and clock towers.