MUMBAI, Aug. 21 -- The Malabar Hill Citizens Association (MHCA) has moved the Bombay high court challenging a resolution passed by the BMC on January 16, 2023, reducing the width on paper of an approximately 700-metre stretch of the busy Walkeshwar Road from 27.5 meters to 17 metres. The residents' association said that this decision to permit the squeezing of the sanctioned road from the Afghan Consulate to the Teen Batti junction, allegedly at the behest of a private developer, was "indefensible". "Phenomenal public interest is compromised to accommodate trivial private interest which will permanently damage the entire Walkeshwar road roadline," says their PIL. Walkeshwar Road has remained 27.5 metres in the Development Plans of 1967, 1991 and 2034, and its present width is between 13.5 metres and 16 metres, says the PIL. It adds that the two-km road is the main connector leading to Raj Bhavan, Hanging Gardens, the residences of cabinet ministers and high court judges, and sees frequent VIP movement. Instead of actually widening the road, the PIL states, the BMC has reduced the sanctioned width of a stretch to enable a builder to develop a plot abutting the stretch. The petition names the state government, the BMC, IIT Bombay and Dilip Chandan, the developer of the contentious plot in Walkeshwar Road, among the respondents. The MHCA has urged the high court to quash the BMC resolution of 2023 that permits the width reduction of Walkeshwar Road. Elaborating on the trajectory of the case, the PIL states that in 2021, the developer approached the BMC seeking to reduce the sanctioned road width on paper. In July 2022, a meeting was held by BMC officials, and a study to reduce traffic congestion in Malabar Hill was commissioned. However, the PIL points out, the builder himself carried out the traffic simulation study, which was accepted by the deputy chief engineer (traffic) in August 2022. With this, the BMC sanctioned the reduction in the width of Walkeshwar Road from 27.5 metres to 17 metres. The PIL states that in July 2023, the builder submitted a proposal to the BMC to construct a 15-storey building on a 1,596 square-metre plot. Between December 2024 and March 2025, the petitioners made several representations to the state government and the BMC against the narrowing of the road. In April 2025, the state government directed the BMC to issue a stop work notice to the builder and revoke its 2023 resolution. On April 26, 2025, the corporation issued the stop work notice but did not revoke the resolution, the PIL states. In August 2025, the BMC approached the governor and persuaded him to commission another study by IIT Bombay. This report, submitted in December 2025, almost concurred with the earlier traffic study and the residents' concern remained unaddressed, they claimed. In April 2026, they said the BMC withdrew the stop work notice issued to the builder. "Under the circumstances, filing a PIL remained the only remedial course of action," the association said in a note issued on Thursday. Tushar Prabhoo, editor of The Voice of Malabar Hills said, "We tried every possible way to address this issue over the past one year. We wrote to the BMC commissioner. We wrote to the chief minister and met his principal secretary. The CM met us and wrote a note on our letter, favouring our request. However, the BMC then asked IIT to give a report. They did not give us a hearing though we had requested them. We had no option but to approach the court through this PIL." Builder Dilip Chandan did not respond to calls, messages and mail from HT....