The sale of a green, one-acre plot on Carmichael Road in south Bombay by Behram Nowrosjee Gamadia for Rs 170 crores (USD 20.24 million) to Mah-Hill Properties, a subsidiary of the Adani Group, was reported in The Times of India (ToI) on April 4, 2025. The deal was registered on March 27, with the buyer paying Rs 10.5 crores (USD 1.25 million) as stamp duty.
In the 1991 development plan, the green slope located in one of the most expensive residential areas in the city, had been earmarked for a children’s park. However, in the new development plan the plot was marked for residential use. In 2017 the local residents protested again the deletion of the reservation for a children’s park. "It is not understood as to why, how and on whose behest the said change of land use from ‘children’s park’ to ‘residential’ has taken place, when one considers the huge efforts that residents and associations have put in to use and maintain the garden plot as a green lung for children and senior citizens of Cumballa Hill,” the citizens’ associations had written to the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC), reported ToI. The BMC subsequently reversed this decision and reverted to use of the plot for a children’s park, but the state government rejected the modification and changed it to a residential zone.
Located close to the municipal commissioner’s bungalow on Carmichael Road, the property was owned by Jehangir Nowrosjee Gamadia who expired in 1927 leaving behind his widow Bai Putlibai and minor children Nowrosjee and Maneckbai. Putlibai, Jehangir Hormusji Cama and Behram became administrators after Jehangir Gamadia’s death. In 1943 the children received shares in the land and became joint owners, noted ToI.
Nowrosjee had signed an agreement with Samrathmal Seth to develop the land in 1974, but a dispute arose between the heirs of both parties which was later settled. As part of the new agreement, Behram received Rs 140 crores while the Seths got Rs 30 crores from the developer, the newspaper noted. S. V.