The Bombay High Court has held that Government land over which access has been permitted to a person cannot be taken for his exclusive use merely because he has constructed a road or gate on it. The Court held that the access must remain open to the petitioner as well as others, while observing that the petitioner's access itself cannot be stopped without issuing proper notice.

Justice Arun R. Pedneker was hearing a writ petition filed by The Deccan Co-operative Housing Society Limited challenging the Collector's order dated March 17, 2026, directing removal of gates installed on Government land being used as an access by the Society. The Society claimed that the gate and access had been in its exclusive and uninterrupted use for over 45 years.

The dispute concerned a land through which temporary access had been granted to the Society in 1976 as its plot was landlocked and the proposed 44-feet-wide Development Plan road had not yet been constructed. The access was granted subject to the condition that it would be discontinued once the Development Plan road was constructed. The road was completed, but the petitioner refused to remove the gate and cease its exclusive use.

The Society contended that no show-cause notice was issued to the Petitioner, nor was any opportunity afforded to the Petitioner to furnish an explanation prior to the issuance of the purported directions/order or the attempted demolition.

The Court found from the maps and communications on record that the strip was Government-owned land over which temporary access had been granted to the Society and that it did not form part of the 1959 allotment. It noted that the 44-feet-wide Development Plan road had since been completed and was being used by the Society.

The Court observed that the Government open land, over which the petitioner was granted a right of access, cannot be exclusive to the Petitioner merely because the Petitioner had constructed a bitumen road on it.

“The Government land with open access cannot be taken in for the exclusive utilisation of the Petitioner… The Petitioner has no right to put up a gate on a access road. The land belongs to the Government and connects to the D.P. road,” the Court observed.

Regarding issuance of notice, the Court distinguished the decision in Shakuntalabai w/o Shrinivas Dhoot & Ors. v. State of Maharashtra & Anr., relied upon by the Society, observing that the land in that case had been specifically allotted to the occupants. In the present case, there was no grant of Government land to the Society.

“In the instant case, there is no grant of Government land over which access is permitted to the Petitioner… by erecting up a gate, the Petitioner is excluding others from using the same and converting the access into a personal space. By removing the gate, the Collector has not stopped the access of the Petitioner…,” the Court remarked.

The Court therefore refused to interfere with the State's direction to remove the gates. However, it directed that the State would not be entitled to grant exclusive use of the road/access to any other party, and that the access would remain open to the Society as well as to others.

Case Title: The Deccan Co-operative Housing Society Limited v. The State of Maharashtra [Writ Petition No.7981 of 2026]

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