India, Feb. 22 -- The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the state government, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) and the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) to take possession of land reserved for Muslim and Christian burial grounds in their sanctioned Development Plans and develop the facilities within a fixed timeframe.

A bench led by chief justice Shree Chandrashekhar and justice Suman Shyam held that once a plot has been earmarked and its reservation incorporated in a Development Plan, "it would be the joint responsibility of the State Government as well as the Municipal Corporation to allocate land, carry the work forward and complete the same in a time-bound manner."

Disposing of two public interest litigations, one ...