In Mumbai, vehicles that have been removed or abandoned cannot collapse in public places: Mumbai High Court

The view of the Mumbai High Court. File | Image source: Hindu

“The space on the streets of Mumbai can no longer be doubled like a cemetery of abandoned vehicles,” the Mumbai High Court said.

Justices GS Kulkarni and Advait Sethna said dumping such vehicles in the dumping ground alone would not be enough and called for continued action to deal with them. The order was adopted on May 8, 2025.

“In cities like Mumbai, there are sharply scarce spaces and limited spaces on public roads and sidewalks that cannot be encroached on such public places by dumping or storing vehicles seized or confiscated by police,” the bench said.

The court is hearing a petition filed by the Marathon Maxima Cooperative Housing Association, which has caused a clogging of concerns about parking/dumping towing or confiscation of vehicles at the police station near the gates of the association.

In the affidavit, the additional police commissioner of the Transportation Department Police Department said: “The correspondence was sent to all police stations across the city last month, suggesting that all abandoned or confiscated vehicles should be moved to the dumping ground.”

The bench urges the state government to determine convenient locations in each citizen ward to dump confiscated or confiscated vehicles.

“Dumping vehicles on the dumping site alone is not enough. If these vehicles are no longer needed, ongoing litigation will be required to deal with these vehicles, and proper consultation will be issued for this purpose,” the court said.

The court released the matter on July 2, 2025 for further hearing and asked the Transportation Department to mention the steps of the proposed long-term solution to resolve the issues raised in the request. It further stated that all police stations must be carefully followed by instructions issued in communication.

The bench directs police officers to follow instructions rather than accumulating vehicles outside the police station. “We clarified that the instructions issued by the transportation department should not be deaf, and the police station needs to be strictly followed and implemented,” the court said.

It further stated that any violation of the order would invite appropriate departmental litigation against the concerned officials. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation also awarded the contract to a private company to identify and repeal such abandoned vehicles, according to the Traffic Police affidavit.