Patanjali Foods Private Limited, associated with yoga guru Baba Ramdev, has approached the Bombay High Court with a plea to direct the Maharashtra government and local authorities to remove illegal encroachments from its land located in Khalapur, Raigad district, near Navi Mumbai.
The company, through its advocate Apoorv Srivastava, filed the petition stating that its properties are under illegal occupation by three individuals who have erected unauthorized structures. These include a politician’s office, a hotel, and a tyre shop, allegedly built without any legal permission or ownership rights.
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The three respondents are the trespassers and illegal encroachers of the subject land owned by the Petitioner, the plea stated, naming Sunil Malsure, Mayur Devghare, and Sudesh Khandagale. It is alleged that Malsure has set up a political office on the land, Devghare has constructed a hotel, and Khandagale operates a tyre puncture shop.
"Malsure is in unlawful possession of the subject land and has erected an SM (local politician's) office on the said land in blatant violation of the law. Devghare has similarly acted in contravention of legal provisions by illegally constructing a hotel on the said land. This unauthorised construction not only infringes upon the rights of the Petitioner but also poses a grave and imminent threat to the safety of the factory workmen, individuals associated with the factory, and visitors frequenting the illegal hotel," the petition reads.
The plea goes on to state that the tyre shop run by Khandagale adds further safety concerns for the factory operations, its workers, and the public at large. These unauthorised constructions are described as a direct threat to factory safety and a violation of property rights.
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These acts of encroachment and unauthorised usage collectively represent a 'flagrant' violation of property and safety norms, necessitating immediate judicial intervention and remedial action, the plea emphasized.
The petitioner argued that repeated attempts were made to alert the local authorities about the encroachments and the potential danger they pose. Complaints were sent to several officials including the Deputy Collector, the Tehsildar, the Chief Engineer, and the Deputy Chief Engineer. However, according to the plea, no effective steps have been taken by any of the authorities so far.
"Despite bringing to the notice of and writing various letters to respondent authorities of the plausible and imminent danger to the public and the encroachers themselves and others working in the Petitioner Company, due to unauthorised and illegal construction constructed by them, the Respondent Authorities have miserably failed to take cognisance of the fact and take appropriate actions in that regard against the encroachers," the plea stated.
The petition highlighted that the lack of action by the authorities is effectively enabling the encroachers to continue their unlawful activities on the company’s property.
The matter first came up for hearing before a division bench comprising Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Dr Neela Gokhale. However, it was later ordered to be placed before the bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Arif Doctor, who currently handle such matters.
The case is expected to be taken up shortly by the new bench for further proceedings.
