The notices were issued under Section 53 (1) of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act, 1966, for illegal construction and Section 260 (2) under the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, 1949, asking the builders to stop any kind of construction on the land.

Earlier, residents had complained that the land, currently used for exercise and community interactions and legally reserved for public and semi-public utilities according to the 1987 Development Plan, was usurped by the builders. The citizens were up in arms last month after the company put up boards, posted security guards and started storing construction material at the site.

Deputy city engineer Shyam Dhavale said they had not issued any permission to the group for any construction activity. “Any activity on the land is illegal,” he said. On June 17, a notice was served on the company under Section 260 (1) of the BPMC Act. “There was no communication from the company regarding the previous notice and so we issued the same yesterday to stop the construction activity.”

However, chairman and managing director of Harshvardhan Group Parag Deshmukh said there was no construction on the land. “I am merely protecting the land as per the court order. The procedure for ownership of the land is on and we will not construct anything without the PMC’s permission,” he said.

The land is a Mahar Vatan land which cannot be sold, used for residential or commercial purpose without the government’s permission. The watandars are tenants on this land. Deshmukh said they got the permission from the state on June 17 last year to acquire the land and procedure was on for the same.

Citizen committees have written to Chief Minister Ashok Chavan after a member found out through RTI that the land was meant for ring railway, high capacity mass transit route and playground.