The Bombay High Court has dismissed a PIL challenging the land sale of Mukesh Ambani’s Antilia residence, stating, “The issue has already been adjudicated, no interference is called for.” The court said no further action was needed.
The Bombay High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and related interventions that challenged the sale of the land on which industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence, Antilia, is located.
The court concluded that the matter concerning the property’s nature had already been resolved and did not warrant further interference.
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A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sandeep V Marne, delivered the ruling on July 28, stating,
“The issue with regard to the nature of the property in question has already been adjudicated. No interference is called for in the instant PIL. The same is therefore dismissed.”
The PIL was initially filed in 2007 by Abdul Mateen, a resident of Jalna, seeking to cancel the 2003 sale of a 4,532.39 square meter plot on Mumbai’s Altamount Road to Antilia Commercial.
The petitioner claimed that the land should be returned to the Maharashtra State Waqf Board, alleging irregularities in the sale process.
The case remained inactive until 2017, when new interventions were filed, including one by advocate Syed Ejaz Abbas ‘Naqvi’. Following the dismissal, Naqvi contended that he had not been heard.
However, the bench refused to entertain his objection, stating that the order had already been made and could not be revisited at his request.
Senior advocate Milind Sathe, representing Antilia Commercial, argued that a similar petition had previously been dismissed with costs and referenced a Supreme Court ruling in the case of Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs vs. Shaikh Yusuf Bhai Chawla, which addressed the legal status of the property.
The court accepted these arguments.
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Originally, the land was owned by Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Yateemkhana, an orphanage for children from the Khoja community, and was registered under the Bombay Public Trust Act. Antilia Commercial contended that this classified it as a secular trust outside Waqf jurisdiction.
Nonetheless, in 2004, the Maharashtra State Waqf Board claimed ownership of the property. Antilia has asserted that all necessary statutory permissions, including those from the Charity Commissioner, were secured prior to the sale.
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