Advertisement
Private equity has played a significant role in shaping Indi...
In today’s real estate landscape, fitness is often treated...
In this episode of Prop Personalities, we sit down with Hars...
Luxury real estate is one of the most talked-about segments ...
Welcome to Prop Personalities by Prop News Time - a podcast ...
The Bombay High Court has heard a batch of writ petitions challenging mutation entries made by the Maharashtra government on land parcels in Yeoor village, Thane, under the Maharashtra Private Forest (Acquisition) Act, 1975. The petitions were filed by multiple landowners, including Roselind Pauly and others, who argued that their lands were wrongly recorded as vested with the State through Mutation Entry No. 616. The petitioners relied on a 2016 division bench judgment in Dr Arjun Sitaram Nitanwar vs Tahsildar, District Thane and Others, where certain land parcels in the same village were declared not to be private forest land and the mutation entries in favour of the State were cancelled. A division bench comprising Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande directed the government to seek instructions from revenue authorities before the matter is heard further later this month.
The Bombay High Court has examined a batch of writ petitions filed by landowners from Yeoor village in Thane district challenging mutation entries through which the Maharashtra government recorded ownership claims over their land parcels under the Maharashtra Private Forest (Acquisition) Act, 1975. Advertisement
The petitions, including Roselind Pauly and Others vs State of Maharashtra, were heard by a division bench comprising Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande on 6 April 2026 under the court’s civil appellate jurisdiction. The court has directed the State government to obtain instructions from the concerned authorities and listed the matter for further hearing on 22 April 2026.
The petitioners argued that the disputed lands form part of village Yeoor, Taluka and District Thane, where the State government’s name was entered into land records through Mutation Entry No. 616. According to the petitioners, the entry was similar to the one previously challenged before the Bombay High Court in Dr Arjun Sitaram Nitanwar vs Tahsildar, District Thane and Others decided in 2016.
In that earlier judgment, a division bench of the High Court had declared certain gut numbers in Yeoor village as not constituting private forest land within the meaning of the Maharashtra Private Forest (Acquisition) Act, 1975. The court had also held that the concerned lands never vested in the State government and directed cancellation of Mutation Entry No. 616 in relation to those properties. The judgment further directed restoration of entries in the Record of Rights that existed prior to the disputed mutation entry.
The present petitioners contended that their lands were similarly affected by the same mutation entry and argued that the reasoning adopted in the 2016 ruling should apply to their properties as well.
One of the petitions specifically concerns Gut No. 18, Hissa No. 2P in Yeoor village, where the petitioner claimed that the State government’s name had been entered into the land records through the same disputed mutation process.
The bench observed that there appeared to be substance in the submissions advanced by the petitioners and called upon the government advocate to obtain instructions from respondent authorities regarding the matter. Additional Government Pleader A I Patel appeared for the State across the connected petitions.
The proceedings form part of continuing litigation concerning land classification, forest notifications and ownership records in parts of Thane district, particularly in areas surrounding Yeoor village where several land parcels have historically been affected by private forest claims and related revenue entries.
5th Jun, 2025
25th May, 2023
11th May, 2023
27th Apr, 2023
Advertisement
Facebook
Whatsapp
