Mumbai, Sept. 15 -- The Bombay High Court on Thursday gave the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) the last chance to constitute an expert committee for examining the feasibility of developing a waterbody in Kandivali, an alternative to the 100-year-old Khajuria lake which was used by the local body to create a recreational park in 2008. A division-bench, comprising of justice Revati Mohite-Dere and justice Sandesh Patil, ordered to fast track the constitution of the committee. "By way of last chance, if the order is not complied with, we make it clear that we will be constrained to take appropriate steps against the concerned authorities," the court said, setting a deadline of September 16. The incident dates back to 2008 when the civic body, known as Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) at that time, declared the lake as "degraded", saying that it was being used as a garbage dumping ground and rolled out a plan to beautify the area under a city-wide theme park initiative. Noticing some media reports regarding the illegal constructions carried out by the civic body on the lake, Pankaj Kotecha, a Mumbai resident, filed a petition with the high court in 2012, challenging the beautification project, claiming that the project was carried out without the required permissions form the collector. "Despite its ownership lying with the state government, the corporation proceeded with the beautification work without formal clearance from the collector and completed the Rs.5-crore project by 2011," the petition claimed. The lake contained various types of rare fish and tortoise, Kotecha's petition stated, adding that it was a biodiversity site with different types of birds visiting the mangroves near the lake. In August 2018, the Bombay High Court ordered the demolition of the park, invoking the public trust doctrine which holds the government responsible for protecting natural sites for future generations. While hearing a petition by the civic body, the Supreme Court in May 2025, set aside the order, stating that while the high court had rightly invoked the public trust doctrine, it had failed to account for transformed realities on the ground, directing to set up an expert committee to explore the feasibility of developing an alternative water body in nearby areas within a period of three months. The high court was then asked to make sure that the directions are complied with....