Mumbai airport reclaims disputed land

The SC on Monday ordered restoring land worth crores of rupees

Mumbai airport has taken possession of seven acres of land that an 82-year-old man had been trying to grab with the aid of forged documents. The Supreme Court on Monday ordered restoring land worth crores of rupees, to the city airport again.

The forger, Edward Paul Machado, had staked a claim of ownership of seven acres of the airport land spread over Marol and Bapnala, adjacent to The Leela Mumbai Hotel, after forging and tampering with land revenue records.

With Mumbai airport claiming rightful ownership of the land, various authorities declared Machado’s act of attempting to grab airport land as illegal and liable for criminal prosecution. Machado was ordered to be evicted by various judicial authorities.

The Bombay high court had, in its order dated October 30, 2015, rejected Machado’s plea of ownership of the land and recognised the airport’s claim over it.

Ld. Attorney General, appearing for Airports Authority of India, vehemently objected to the petition, arguing that it is a gross abuse of process of law by Machado. Pursuant to the Supreme Court order, Mumbai airport authorities have taken over physical possession of the seven acres the land.

Confirming this, the official spokesperson of Mumbai Airport said, “We have taken over the land as per the court order of Monday.”

According to the sources from Mumbai airport, ever since the GVK company started renovating the city airport, several people tried to intrude into the airport area.

Also, some developers took to selling land near the airport and at that time, a few people tried to strake claim to some of the land with forged documents. Several such cases are currently being heard at various courts over ownership rights.