In a significant legal victory for one of India's oldest industrial conglomerates, the Bombay City Civil Court has nullified a decades-old government notification that classified a portion of Godrej & Boyce's manufacturing estate in Vikhroli as a slum area. This judgment brings closure to a protracted legal battle, effectively protecting the private property from potential acquisition by the state under the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act.
The Court's Decisive Ruling and Key Arguments
Judge A K Kale delivered the final order, stating, "It is hereby declared that no valid declaration exists under Section 4 (1) of the Maharashtra Slum Areas Act in respect of suit land." The court permanently restrained the additional collector and deputy collector (ENC) from treating the colony on the disputed land as a slum area unless a fresh, valid declaration is made.
The origins of this dispute date back to 1978, when a deputy collector issued a notification declaring a 7,850-square-metre (approximately 2-acre) plot within the Godrej estate as a slum. Godrej & Boyce contested this classification vigorously. The company argued that the land, acquired through historical conveyances tracing back to the East India Company era, was not a slum but a transit camp for migrant labourers employed by contractors for the company's construction projects.
The firm maintained that it provided these workers with temporary housing and building materials free of charge, and that the inhabitants paid no rent. This arrangement, according to Godrej, made the workers temporary licensees rather than independent slum dwellers, a crucial distinction under the law.
Procedural Lapses and the 'Vanishing' Slum
The court noted critical lapses in the state's actions. After a series of notices in the late 1970s, the government took no substantive steps for a decade, remaining silent until 1988. When officials finally conducted a site inspection in 1989, they found the land vacant. The court observed that because Godrej & Boyce moved its labour force according to project requirements, the alleged "slum" that the state claimed to be improving did not physically exist at the site mentioned in the official gazette notification.
Judge Kale highlighted a major procedural conflict: at the time the slum notification was issued, the state was already engaged in a separate High Court lawsuit against Godrej concerning the ownership of the Vikhroli lands. The court found it improper for the state to invoke slum redevelopment powers while the fundamental question of land ownership was still undecided in another forum.
Outside Interference and Final Injunction
The company's plea also addressed interference by external agitators. Godrej alleged that local activists and members of the Dalit Panther organisation had trespassed on the property, held unauthorised meetings, and intimidated workers to prevent them from reporting for duty. The company claimed these outsiders falsely promised labourers that the government would grant them ownership of the land.
In its conclusive order, the court granted a permanent injunction against both the state authorities and the specific individuals involved in the agitation. The judge ruled the original notification as "invalid and it is of nullity." Beyond restraining the state from treating the area as a slum, the court also explicitly barred the activists from preventing labourers or company officers from entering the estate.
This ruling underscores the importance of procedural correctness and substantive evidence in land classification matters, providing substantial relief to Godrej & Boyce by securing its property rights in Vikhroli after a 45-year legal struggle.
