‘Our Habit Is To Rob Our Own Motherland’: Bombay HC Defends BMC Over Mumbai Waterlogging

Last Updated:July 07, 2026, 20:10 IST

The Bombay HC emphasised that the BMC cannot realistically maintain a functional city when infrastructure is immediately choked by illegal structures.

As Mumbaikars continue to wade through heavily waterlogged streets this monsoon, the Bombay High Court said that citizens cannot blame the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for a crisis primarily of their own making.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad noted that illegal encroachments, choked drainage networks, and the blatant misuse of public infrastructure are the real culprits behind the city’s annual monsoon paralysis.

“We should stop blaming the corporation," Acting CJ Ghuge remarked, adding sharply that Mumbaikars are “destined" to see rainwater on the roads because of a widespread habit of land grabbing.

“Our Habit is to Rob Our Own Motherland"

The high court’s scathing observations came during a hearing on a plea filed by the BMC itself, which sought permission to widen a critical road in Mandala village along the bottlenecked Sion-Trombay stretch.

According to a report by The Indian Express, Justice Ghuge said, “We have an uncanny knack for grabbing lands. We put all the dirt and material inside that, we block the gutters. The corporation gave us drainage lines—we filled up the drainage lines. They put pavement blocks—we started parking our cars on them. The corporation gave us footpaths—we started having pav bhaji, pav masala, and sabudana vada stalls on them."

The bench emphasised that the civic body cannot realistically maintain a functional city when infrastructure is immediately choked by illegal structures and garbage disposal.

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Saurabh VermaSenior Sub-editor

Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Chief Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter --twitter.com/saurabhkverma19

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