MUMBAI, April 19 -- The Bombay High Court on Saturday dismissed a petition seeking to exclude over 200,000 sq m of land in Dharavi Koliwada from the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP), holding that it was too late to intervene. "It is too late in the day," said a division bench of justices Makarand Karnik and SM Modak, while rejecting the petition filed by the Dharavi Koli Jamat Trust, an organisation that represents the fishing community in Dharavi. The petition said that, according to the fisheries and city survey departments, a 200,830 sq m land parcel forms part of Dharavi Koliwada-one of Mumbai's seven original fishing villages-and should therefore be excluded from the redevelopment project. The trust, through advocates Ravi Gadagkar and Usha Gadagkar, claimed that there had been an inordinate delay of about 15 years on the part of Maharashtra's revenue and urban development departments in ascertaining and finalising the outer boundaries of Dharavi Koliwada. It claimed that a committee of officials from the revenue and fisheries departments, set up in November 2018, had concluded that the Dharavi Koliwada spans 200,830 sqm, including the gaothan (urban village) and adjoining areas traditionally used by the fishing community. These areas must be properly demarcated and excluded from the DRP, it contended. However, the petition claimed that only houses of fisherfolk were excluded from the plan. Common and cultural spaces-such as the Holi Maidan used for drying fish and nets, a temple and its adjoining grounds, three churches, a cemetery, a crematorium, and other open spaces used for festivals-have been included in the project, it said. Despite repeated reminders to the authorities on these issues, no action was taken, it added. The court, however, noted that the state had issued a notification for the redevelopment project in March 2016 and that work had been underway for a long time. Rights have already been granted to multiple stakeholders, including housing societies on the Koliwada land, many of which have accepted the redevelopment proposal and handed over their properties to the project developer, the court said. "To interfere at the instance of the petitioner at such a belated juncture would amount to an unwarranted exercise of the extraordinary writ jurisdiction of this court," the bench said. It added that the land claimed by the trust has, over time, "already lost its character" and was the "subject matter of encroachments and agglomeration of slums" Therefore, the trust can't stake claims over the entire stretch of land, the court said. While the court granted liberty to the trust to make a representation to earmark the boundaries of Dharavi Koliwada, the judges said such a survey would hardly be of any consequence, as the March 2016 notification has attained finality....