Contending claims and uses of land: Unpacking the trajectory of a mortgage in Thane

This article deals with a case of land that was mortgaged against a loan given by the Gwalior Durbar to a businessman in Bombay in 1925. The said land in Thane subsequently has had a wide range of claimants and uses. The mortgage case is linked to a variety of processes such as the decline in the textile industry in Bombay in the 1920s, federal financial integration in the late 1940s, the trajectory of post-independence industrialisation in cities such as Thane located near larger metropolises, and the character of urban property rights. On the basis of a discussion of the case, the article makes three kinds of arguments. One, it contrasts the implications of acquisition versus leasing of the mortgaged land and shows how acquisition has been used to ensure clear titles. Two, it brings out the varied ways in which urban land can be claimed and accessed and the factors that enable this. Three, the actual trajectory of use of the mortgaged land by two industries is examined to show how even lessees/sub-lessees of land subject to uncertainties can use the land (and select rights over it) for different purposes. Overall, the article contributes to an understanding of the working of property rights as they have evolved to fit new contexts of industrialisation and urbanisation.