Bombay High Court

Shri. Ratanlal Premchand Gandhi ... vs The State Of Maharashtra And Ors on 7 December, 2017

Bench: Vasanti A. Naik

                                                      913-WP-2470-2017.DOC




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         IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                 CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

                      WRIT PETITION NO. 2470 OF 2017


 1. Shri Ratanlal Premchand Gandhi
 Age 76, Years, Occ. Medical Practitioner,
 R/at. Lonand, Tal-Khandala, Dist. Satara.
 2. Dayashankar Jethalal Rawal
 R/at. Lonand, Tal-Khandala, Dist. Satara.                 ...Petitioners

         Versus

 1. The State of Maharashtra, through its
 Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development
 Department, office at Mantralaya, Bombay.
 2. Collector, Satara, having office at Satara.
 3. Sub Divisional Officer, Wai Sub Division,
 District - Satara.
 4. Zilha Parishad, Satara having office at
 Satara through Chief Officer.
 5. The Lonand Municipal Council, having
 office at Lonand, Tal.Khandala, Dist. Satara.
 Through its Chief Officer.                    ...Respondents


 Mr. Drupad Patil, for the Petitioners.
 Ms. Nisha Mehra, AGP for State.
 Ms. Shakuntala S. Wadekar, for Respondent No.5.


                               CORAM:    SMT. VASANTI A NAIK AND
                                         RIYAZ I. CHAGLA, JJ.

DATED : 7TH DECEMBER 2017

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O R A L J U D G M E N T :- (Per Riyaz I. Chagla J.)

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard by consent of

the parties.

2. The Petitioner by the present Petition is seeking directions

against Respondent No.1 to forthwith publish Notification

declaring that reservation No.31 for the purpose of extension of

maternity homes and reservation No.25 for the purpose of garden

in respect of land bearing CTS No. 2090 / 4 and 2090 / 58

respectively situated at village Lonand, Tal. Khandala, Dist. Satara

(for short "the said lands") has lapsed and that the Petitioners are

entitled to use the lands for residential and commercial purpose.

3. The said lands along with adjoining lands were purchased

by the Petitioner No.2 and father of Petitioner No.1 vide sale deed

dated 11th August 1978. The said lands situated at Lonand was

reserved for the purpose of extension of maternity homes and

garden respectively in the Development Plan which had been

sanctioned by the State Government on 20th July 1983. Since the

said land had not been acquired by the local authority viz. Zilla

Parishad, Satara, the Petitioners through their Advocates issued

purchase notice to the Zilla Parishad, District Collector and Gram

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Panchayat on 26th April 2014 under Section 127 of the

Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 ( for short

"the said Act") with respect to the land bearing CTS No. 2090 / 4.

A similar purchase notice was issued by the Petitioners through

their Advocate on 29th April 2014 to the Zilla Parishad, District

Collector and Grampanchayat under Section 127 of the said Act

with respect to the land bearing CTS No. 2090 / 58. In response

to the purchase notices, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Zilla

Parishad, vide its letter dated 28th June 2014 directed the

Petitioners to supply copies of the title deeds and measurement

map. The Petitioners supplied requisite documents on or about

26th August 2014. The Chief Executive Officer of Zilla Parishad,

Satara addressed a letter dated 2nd March 2015 to the District

Collector, Satara requesting the District Collector to initiate

acquisition proceedings in respect of the said lands. The Collector

vide its letter / order dated 28th May 2015, appointed the Sub

Divisional Officer, Wai Sub Division as Special Land Acquisition

officer to acquire the said lands. The CEO, Zilla Parishad

addressed letters dated 3rd July 2015 and 28th July 2015 to the

SDO requesting him to start acquisition proceedings. Since no

steps contemplated by Section 127 of the said Act were taken for

acquisition of the said lands, the reservation stood lapsed on

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completion of the statutory period under Section 127 of the said

Act. The Nagar Panchayat was constituted by the State

Government in exercise of powers conferred by the provisions of

the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and

Industrial Townships Act, 1965 in place of the Zilla Parishad for the

whole area of village the panchayat of Lonand. The Petitioners

have stated that as on today the Respondent No.5 - Lonand

Municipal Council is duly constituted under the Maharashtra

Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships

Act, 1965 and the Chief Officer has been appointed as

Administrative Head.

4. Shri Dhrupad Patil, the learned counsel for the Petitioners

has submitted that the Petitioners have issued purchase notices

under Section 127 of the said Act after the period of 10 years from

the date of sanction of the Development Plan in the year 1983

which had reserved the said lands. He has submitted that the

purchase notices have been validly and properly issued and

served on the concerned authority on 26th April 2014 and 29th

April 2014. The Petitioners have also supplied the requisite

documents on 26th August 2014. He has submitted that the State

Government has failed to initiate any action in acquisition of the

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said lands within the stipulated period under Section 127 of the

said Act. The Respondents have also not issued any declaration

under Section 126 of the said Act till the date of filing of this

Petition. He has therefore submitted that the reservation of the

said lands has lapsed and the the Petitioners are entitled to a

declaration to that effect.

5. Smt. Nisha Mehra, the learned Assistant Government

Pleader for Respondent No.1 - State of Maharashtra has fairly

submitted that the Respondent No.1 has not commenced

proceedings for acquisition of the said lands.

6. Smt. Shakuntala Wadekar, the learned counsel appearing

for Respondent No.5 Council has submitted that the Petitioners

have not issued a valid and proper notice under Section 127 of the

said Act. She has submitted that the purchase notices have been

issued to the Zilla Parishad, Satara who was the erstwhile local

authority and planning authority for Lonand. After constitution of

the Nagar Panchayat by the State Government no purchase

notices was issued to the concerned authority. She has also

submitted that the purchase notices are bad in law as no

documents were attached / sent with the purchase notices issued

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under Section 127 of the said Act. She has submitted that

Respondent No.5 has informed the Special Land Acquisition

officer viz the Sub Divisional Officer, Wai to commence acquisition

proceedings and hence the steps for acquisition have been taken

under Section 127 of the said Act. She has accordingly submitted

that this Court should not issue any declaration to the effect that

the reservation to the said lands has lapsed.

7. We have considered the submissions on behalf of the

parties. We are of the view that a valid and proper purchase

notice had been issued by the Petitioners to the Zilla Parishad,

District Collector and Grampanchayat under Section 127 of the

said Act. We are of the view that the Nagar Panchayat upon its

constitution has only stepped into the shoes of the Zilla Parishad

and hence the purchase notices were not required to be re-issued.

We find that the requisite documents were submitted by the

Petitioners to the concerned authority and met with the

requirements of Section 127 of the said Act. We are not inclined

to accept the submissions made on behalf of the Respondent

No.5 that the documents were required to be attached / sent with

the purchase notices for the purchase notices to be valid. We are

of the view that it is sufficient that the requisite documents were

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submitted to the concerned authorities after the purchase notices

were issued and accepted by them. We therefore, find no merit in

this submission on behalf of Respondent No.5. We are of the

considered view that the purchase notices having been issued

after 10 years from the date of sanction of the Development Plan

in the year 1983 which had reserved the said lands and that the

State Government having failed to initiate action for acquisition of

the said lands within the stipulated period under Section 127 of

the said Act, the reservation of the said lands has lapsed. We

also find that the State Government has not issued any

declaration under Section 126 (2) or 126 (4) of the said Act and

we accept the submission on behalf of the State Government that

the proceedings for acquisition of the said lands has not been

initiated.

8. Hence, the Writ Petition is allowed in terms of the prayer

clauses (a) and (b). We accordingly pass the following order:-

(a) We order and declare that reservation No.31 and 25

in respect of lands bearing CTS No. 2090/4 and

2090 / 58 respectively situated at village Lonand, Tal.

Khandala, Dist. Satara has lapsed and the Petitioners

are free to use the said lands for development as is

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permissible in the case of the adjacent lands and in

accordance with law.

(b) We order and direct Respondent No.1 - State

Government to forthwith publish Notification declaring

that reservation No.31 and 25 in respect of lands

bearing CTS No. 2090/4 and 2090 / 58 respectively

situated at village Lonand, Taluka Khandala, District

Satara has lapsed.