MIG CRICKET CLUB Vs. ABHINAV SAHAKAR EDUCATION SOCIETY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Respondent No. 3, MIG Cricket Club has preferred this appeal by special leave, aggrieved by the judgment of the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court dated 5th of September, 2005 passed in Writ Petition No. 1561 of 1992 whereby it had allowed the writ petition and quashed the notification dated 24th of April, 1992, published in the Gazette on 7th of May, 1992 and further directed the respondents of the writ petition to restore the reservation of plot for "school and cultural centre".

(2.) According to the writ petitioner - Respondent No. 1 Abhinav Sahkar Education Society, a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as the "writ petitioner") it was allotted a portion of plot of land admeasuring 7224 sq. yards, bearing Survey No. 341 situated at MIG Colony, Gandhi Nagar, Bandra (East) in the city of Mumbai. Respondent No. 4, Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (hereinafter referred to as "MHADA") and Respondent No. 5, Bombay Housing and Area Development Board (hereinafter referred to as "BHADB") with the consent of Respondent No. 3, Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay (hereinafter referred to as the "Corporation") under a resolution of February, 1965 granted lease for a period of 99 years to the writ petitioner on a premium equivalent to the price fixed and payable annually by way of installments. According to the writ petitioner, however, on measurement of the plot, the area was found to be 7301.25 sq. yards and when it proposed to construct a school building thereon, it came to its notice that the area in question has been reserved for a playground in the draft development plan. Writ Petitioner brought this fact to the notice of MHADA and BHADB by letter dated 8th of May, 1968 and in answer thereto the writ petitioner Society was asked to get the user of the land changed in accordance with law. Meanwhile, according to the writ petitioner, the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 (hereinafter referred to as the "Act") had come into force on 20th of December, 1966.

(3.) Further case of the writ petitioner is that by letter dated 15th of November, 1978 the Secretary to the Government of Maharashtra in the Department of Housing and the Chief Executive Officer and Vice- President of MHADA in a letter addressed to the Secretary of Urban Development Department requested for modification of the draft development plan showing "school purpose" for the user of the said plot. By letter dated 1st of January, 1979, the Senior Town Planner of the Bombay Metropolitan Regional Development Authority directed the writ petitioner to furnish certain details and plans. According to the writ petitioner he duly complied with the direction. It has been further averred that by letter dated 12th of November, 1979 addressed to the Personal Assistant to the Minister for Education, his intervention was sought for the necessary change in the user of the land for the purpose of school. By letter dated 10th of August, 1983, the Under Secretary to the Urban Development Department of the State Government informed the writ petitioner that instruction has been issued to the Corporation for change of the user of the plot in question for school purposes. In February 1984, according to the writ petitioner, the Corporation passed a resolution sanctioning user of the said plot for the purpose of a school. Ultimately in exercise of the powers under Section 37(2) of the Act, a notification dated 10th of April, 1985 came to be issued and published in the Government Gazette on 25th of April, 1985. By the said notification the land admeasuring 6103.33 sq. meters out of Survey No. 341 (Part) was excluded from the site reserved for the playground and the land so released was earmarked for the "school and cultural centre" in the development plan of the area. The change of the user of the said plot was also confirmed to the writ petitioner by the Executive Engineer, Town Planning (Division Plan) by the Corporation by letter dated 15th of April, 1985.