Judicial exclusion and the governance of urban poverty: courts, citizenship and development in Mumbai

Across cities of the Global South, courts increasingly play a role in mediating conflicts over land, housing and the use of public space. While public interest litigation (PIL) in India has historically been celebrated as a mechanism for expanding access to justice, its role in shaping urban governance remains less examined. This article investigates how judicial interventions influence the governance of homelessness in Mumbai. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of PILs concerning homelessness and eviction between 1985 and 2020, including petitions, judicial orders and related administrative documents, the study examines how courts interpret and operationalise the notion of ‘public interest’ in disputes over urban space. Judicial proceedings frequently reframe practices associated with urban poverty, such as pavement dwelling or informal shelter, as matters of encroachment, obstruction or nuisance. Through legal classifications, conditions of poverty are translated into violations of urban order, enabling evictions and removals to be presented as administratively necessary rather than socially disruptive. The article advances the concept of judicial exclusion to describe how routine legal practices contribute to the production of spatial marginality in rapidly transforming cities. By foregrounding the role of courts in the governance of urban poverty, the paper contributes to wider debates on law, development and urban transformation in the Global South.