The Bombay High Court dismissed a petition by Danda Koli Masemari Vyavasayik Sahakari Sanstha Maryadit (DKMVSSM) challenging a committee report on an SRA Koli housing scheme on government land at Khar Danda. The report found the scheme did not encroach on traditional fish-drying land.

DKMVSSM and Danda Koli Samaj had challenged the SRA’s May 2022 declaration of the land as a slum and sought removal of encroachments. They said the BMC reserved it for the fishing community in 2008, but a 2018 map omitted the fish-drying areas, and alleged the reservation was de-reserved without due procedure.

On December 17, 2025, the court ordered an urban development department and SRA committee to inspect the site and maintained status quo. On February 23, 2026, the committee said 3,422.85 sq m had been declared a slum, while nearly 26,000 sq m remained available for traditional fishing; it recommended developing the yard and allowing rehabilitation schemes to proceed. The court said a competent civil court should examine the dispute and stayed its order for three weeks, extending the status quo.

The Bombay High Court appointed a three-member committee to resolve a dispute over land at Danda Koliwada, Khar West, where a slum rehabilitation scheme is being implemented. Part of the land is used by the Koli community to dry fish and nets.

Justices Girish Kulkarni and Aarti Sathe directed the additional principal secretary of the urban development department, the suburban collector and the Slum Rehabilitation Authority CEO to hear both parties and consider fresh demarcation, taking the petitioners’ traditional rights into account. The court said the state, as owner of the land, has an obligation to resolve the issue. Two Koli societies approached the High Court objecting to alleged encroachment by the developer.

Danda Koli Masemari Vyavasayik Sahakari Maryadit and Danda Koli Samaj moved the Bombay High Court against the Slum Rehabilitation Authority CEO’s May 17, 2022, order declaring 3,450 square metres of land used for fish drying and related activities a slum rehabilitation area. The land forms part of a plot reserved as a fish-drying yard under sanctioned development plans. The societies say the designation undermines the Khar Danda Koliwada fishing community’s rights and livelihoods.

The 1991 development plan reserved a small portion for Koli housing. In May 2008, the BMC removed that reservation and retained the fish- and net-drying yard reservation. A substantial modification was sought in 2018 to DP 2034.

Watchdog Foundation told the Maharashtra Chief Minister, environment department and chief secretary that indiscriminate debris dumping is destroying mangroves at the Khar Danda coast during jetty construction for the Versova-Bandra Sea Link.

The project includes four jetties at Bandra, Danda, Juhu and Versova, and proposed connectors at Otters Club on Carter Road, Juhu Koliwada and Versova. Residents reported green cover being cleared beside Pump House at Guzder Bandh during construction of the Khar Danda jetty and Juhu Koliwada connector. Watchdog Foundation trustee Godfrey Pimenta warned that the cleared land could be encroached upon by slums. The group urged adequate barricading and access limited to legitimate traditional fishing activities by local fishermen.

Mumbai-based NGO Watchdog Foundation alleged that debris dumping near the Khar Danda jetty construction site and the Versova-Bandra Sea Link (VBSL) connector at Juhu Koliwada has destroyed mangroves and green cover on land adjoining the Pump House at Khar Danda/Guzder Bandh. On Sunday, May 4, 2025, it wrote to Maharashtra’s chief minister and chief secretary and the secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, warning of possible encroachment. The VBSL project includes four jetties at Bandra, Danda, Juhu and Versova, and proposed connectors at Otters Club (Carter Road, Bandra), Juhu Koliwada and Versova.