The Case Before This Case: The Salt-Pan Thread and the 2002 Vesting

While the SLP awaits listing, it is worth following the modern chain of orders it will reopen — a chain that runs through salt pans, a Central Government department, and a two-decade-old vesting order that once put this land firmly with the State. Salt pans and the Centre. Western Bhayandar was, historically, salt-pan land. According to the State's account, from 1948 onward changes were made to the revenue records without prior government approval, and the names of the Estate Investment Company and later Mira Salt Works were entered. In 1958, as the land was used for salt pans, the Central Government's Salt Department was added to the records — the point at which a Union department became part of the story. The first Supreme Court round. The ownership dispute, in an earlier round, reached the Supreme Court, which did not decide title itself but directed the parties to approach the Thane District Collector. 2002 — the land is vested in the State. In 2002, the Thane District Collector rejected the claim of Mira Salt Company and ordered that the entire land be vested with the State Government. 2019 — the First Appeal. In 2019, the companies, together with the Central Government's Salt Commissioner, filed a First Appeal in the Bombay High Court challenging the 2002 vesting. 30 April 2026 — the order under challenge. The High Court dismissed the Salt Commissioner's appeal and held that the land belonged to Mira Salt Works. The State has pointed out that the appeal was said to concern only maintainability, yet the court decided the matter on its merits — a feature the government has flagged as central to its Supreme Court challenge. The outcome favours the private entities, Estate Investment Company and Mira Real Estate Developers. Why the backstory matters. The SLP does not open a blank page. It reopens this entire chain — the 2002 vesting, the Central salt-pan interest, and the merits-on-maintainability question — which is why the case carries implications well beyond a single parcel.

पश्चिम भाईंदर ऐतिहासिकदृष्ट्या मिठागराची जमीन. राज्याच्या म्हणण्यानुसार १९४८ पासून विनापरवानगी नोंदी बदलल्या; Estate Investment Company व नंतर Mira Salt Works ही नावे नोंदली गेली. १९५८ मध्ये मिठागर वापरामुळे केंद्र सरकारचा मीठ विभाग नोंदींत आला. मालकीचा वाद आधीच्या फेरीत सर्वोच्च न्यायालयात पोहोचला होता; न्यायालयाने स्वतः निर्णय न देता पक्षकारांना ठाणे जिल्हाधिकाऱ्यांकडे जाण्याचे निर्देश दिले. २००२ मध्ये ठाणे जिल्हाधिकाऱ्यांनी Mira Salt Company चा दावा फेटाळून संपूर्ण जमीन राज्य सरकारकडे निहित करण्याचा आदेश दिला. २०१९ मध्ये कंपन्यांनी व केंद्रीय मीठ आयुक्तांनी या वर्ग आदेशाविरुद्ध मुंबई उच्च न्यायालयात प्रथम अपील दाखल केले. ३० एप्रिल २०२६ रोजी न्यायालयाने मीठ आयुक्तांचे अपील फेटाळून जमीन Mira Salt Works ची असल्याचे मानले — हाच मुद्दा राज्य सर्वोच्च न्यायालयात आव्हान देत आहे.