City Should Not Be Brought To Stand Still: Bombay High Court Directs Protestors Supporting Maratha Reservation To Vacate Streets

The High Court was dealing with an urgent hearing in the Public Interest Litigation where the Petitioner sought direction to Respondents not to grant permission for the ongoing Maratha Reservation Andolan at Azad Maidan.

The Division Bench of Justice Gautam A. Ankhad and Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge ordered, “Since it is of imminent necessity that normalcy in the life of the common man needs to be restored and the city should not be brought to a stand still, and more so during the Ganpati Festival as well, and since 2025 Rules are in place, we direct Respondent Nos.5,6 and 7 to ensure that the streets are cleaned up, vacated of the occupation by the protesters, which would include all such places which are being occupied until tomorrow by forenoon.”

Senior Advocate Surel Shah represented the Petitioner while Advocate General Birendra Saraf represented the State.

Factual Background

The reason for the Applicants and PIL Petitioners moving their Petitions in urgency before the High Court was on account of lakhs of protesters supporting Jarange and the Amaran Uposhan Antarwali Sarati at Azad Maidan flooding Mumbai streets thereby bringing the city to a stand still.

Reasoning

The Bench took note of the undisputed fact that the CSMT was completely flooded with the protesters. The area around the precincts of CST, BMC precincts, flora fountain area, the area around Oval Maidan, the area around Mantralaya, the area around Marine Drive etc. had been blocked. Reference was made to the pictures indicating that the protesters were cooking, playing and dancing on the main streets.

It was further noticed that the Advocate appearing for the peaceful protestor submitted that he would strive to convince Jarange to convince the protesters to vacate the streets and should not misbehave.

Considering the fact that the respondents had prima facie violated the conditions of the permission granted to them by the State Government and since they did not have any valid permission to continue the protest on Azad Maidan, the Bench ordered the State Government to follow the due procedure laid down in law for initiating appropriate steps.

The Bench has directed the State Government to initiate appropriate steps to prevent the entry of such protesters in Mumbai from all entry points, until further orders from this Court and or any order of the State Government under the 2025 Rules.

The Bench permitted medical assistance to all the protesters, as well as water and food packets. “ We direct the State Government to ensure that if the health parameters of Mr.Jarange are of concern or his health deteriorates, the State Government would ensure that he is given adequate medical assistance and treatment”, it ordered.

Cause Title:Amy Foundation v. State of Maharashtra (Case No.: Public Interest Litigation No. 25656 of 2025)

Appearance

Petitioners: Senior Advocate Surel Shah, Advocates Mahendra Ratna, Sneha Chanotra, Chaitanya Nikte, Ashish Agarkar, Swapnil Sangle, Ramana Deshmukh, Khushi Bagaria, Sourabhi Waknis, Pranav Avhad, Abid Mulani, Adesh Agarkar, Nilesh Tribhuvan

Respondents: Advocate General Birendra Saraf, GP Purnima Kantharia, GP a/w Addl. GP Jyoti Chavan, Advocates Oorja Dhond, Shivprasad Borade, Komal Punjabi Ramesh Dube Patil, Ashish Gikwad, Rajesh Tekade, Shriram Pingle, Dr.Jayshree Patil, Rajaashok Ghate, Sr. PI Shrikant Adhate, PI Dnyaneshwar Avhad

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