Court upholds NMC eviction drive on prime Subhash Road land

Nagpur: The district judge-6 court has upheld Nagpur Municipal Corporation's (NMC) eviction action over a prime 15,000 sq m land parcel at Subhash Road near Agyaram Devi square, dismissing a batch of eight miscellaneous civil appeals filed against the civic body's notices.The appeals, including MCA No. 271/2025 and connected matters, had challenged the eviction proceedings initiated by NMC under Section 81-B of Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act, 1949. The disputed land was originally leased to Abhyankar Smarak Trust in 1937 for charitable purposes.Delivering the order, district judge-6 MS Ganorkar observed that the lease expired in November 1967 and was never renewed thereafter. Despite the expiry, the Trust allegedly continued to occupy the property and sublet portions of it to commercial establishments, including automobile shops, mutton shop and gas agency, without obtaining permission from the municipal corporation.The appellants, representing various business establishments and a school functioning on the premises, argued before the court that they were lawful tenants under the Trust and therefore entitled to protection from eviction. However, the court rejected the contention, holding that once the original lease expired, the Trust itself ceased to have any legal right over the property.The court further noted that the Trust failed to pay even the nominal annual lease rent of Re1 to the civic body, strengthening NMC's claim that the occupants were encroachers.Observing that the centrally located land was urgently required for a public project, the court ruled that illegal occupants cannot question the govt's need to reclaim its own land for public purposes. The judgment also upheld the due process followed by deputy municipal commissioner (property), stating that adequate opportunity of hearing was provided to all parties before the eviction notices were issued.Advocates GA Kunte and DG Paunikar represented NMC, while advocates SP Behar, ML Senad, YB Sawal and BR Waghmare appeared for the appellants.With the dismissal of the appeals, NMC's path to repossess the high-value property for the proposed public development project has been cleared.15,000 sq m land near Agyaram Devi square was leased to a Trust in 1937Lease expired in November 1967 and never renewedTrust continued to occupy property and sublet portions of it to commercial establishmentsTrust also did not pay nominal annual lease rent of Re1