The High Court of Bombay sought the response of State of Maharashtra and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition to allow parking of vehicles under bridges and flyovers when alternative public parking spaces are not available within 200 metres of such bridges and flyovers. The division bench issued a notice to State and BMC on the plea which said that parking facilities and proper safety measures should be provided for parking below bridges and flyovers in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The petition stated that spaces below bridges and flyovers were used as parking spaces until 2008. 

In August 2009, the State government passed an order under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) putting restrictions on parking under bridges and flyovers in case of availability of alternative parking spaces within 200 metres but it did not put any restrictions on parking under bridges and flyovers in the event alternative parking was not available within 200 metres.

After getting no response from the state government the petitioner filed the present application and submitted that: 

“MMR region is one such region where horizontal development has already exhausted and now there is scope only for vertical development and additional FSI. In such circumstances, the authorities should not waste the huge spaces that are lying vacant beneath the bridges. The smart usage of these open spaces lying vacant for car parking is truly what is supposed to be a smart city. Therefore, the intervention of this Court is necessary”. The petitioner thus contended that a proper parking facility will increase revenue to the government exchequer from parking fees as well as tenders and government contracts.