Mumbai, May 19 (Reporter) The Bombay High Court has firmly stated that public roads and spaces in Mumbai cannot be treated as dumping grounds for abandoned or confiscated vehicles, directing police stations across the city to rigorously implement the Traffic department’s protocols for the removal and disposal of such vehicles as per an order which was made available on Monday. A division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Advait Sethna, in a recently passed order, underscored that simply relocating these vehicles to dumping yards is inadequate and called for sustained, systematic efforts to ensure their timely disposal. “In a city like Mumbai, where public roads and footpaths are already under immense pressure due to space constraints, such public areas cannot be encroached upon for storing seized or abandoned vehicles,” the bench observed. The court was hearing a petition from the Marathon Maxima Co-operative Housing Society, which complained about the unauthorised parking and dumping of towed vehicles by a local police station near the society’s entrance, obstructing access and causing inconvenience for residents. In response, the Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) submitted an affidavit confirming that a circular had been issued to all police stations last month, instructing them to shift all abandoned or seized vehicles to designated dumping yards. However, the bench maintained that merely transferring vehicles to dumping sites does not resolve the issue. “If these vehicles are no longer required for investigation or as evidence, continuous action must be taken to dispose them of. Appropriate advisories in this regard should be issued,” the court directed. The court also urged the state government to earmark suitable locations within each municipal ward for the storage and disposal of such vehicles, ensuring that public spaces are not misused. The matter is scheduled for further hearing on July two. Meanwhile, the court has asked the Traffic department to submit a comprehensive, long-term strategy to address the concerns raised in the petition. The bench further cautioned that non-compliance with its directives would invite disciplinary action. “We clarify that the instructions from the Traffic department must not fall on deaf ears and must be strictly followed and implemented by all police stations. Officers in-charge must ensure that vehicles are not allowed to accumulate outside police stations,” the order stated. According to the affidavit, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has also engaged a private agency to identify, and scrap abandoned vehicles as part of a broader clean-up initiative...////...