TARABEN NARANDAS Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners seek the following substantive reliefs:-

(2.) Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the petitioners are owners and occupiers of lands bearing Survey No.46/1 admeasuring 2047 square metres and Survey No.88 admeasuring 3541 square metres situated in Bhatar village, taluka Choryasi, district Surat (hereinafter referred to as "the subject lands"). Village Bhatar was included in the development area of Surat Urban Development Authority (hereinafter referred to as "SUDA"). SUDA made a development plan which came to be sanctioned by the Government of Gujarat under the provisions of section 17 of the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Act, 1976 (hereinafter referred to as "the Town Planning Act"). Prior thereto, the draft development plan prepared by SUDA was published on or about 7th February, 1980 wherein the subject lands were reserved under the head "for commercial purpose for SUDA". Such reservation made in the draft development plan continued as reserved for the same purpose in the final development plan sanctioned on 3rd January, 1986 which came into force on 3rd March, 1986. Pursuant to the reservation of the subject land, a notification came to be issued under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act for acquiring the subject lands which was followed by a notification under section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act. The Government ultimately, had withdrawn the said acquisition and released the lands from acquisition. A communication dated 29th November, 1988 came to be issued to the petitioners by the authority in this regard. The Assistant Collector, Choryasi Prant also informed the petitioners by a communication dated 12th December, 1988 that the subject lands had been released from acquisition by a decision taken by the Government. Subsequently, SUDA undertook the exercise of revising the development plan under section 21 of the Town Planning Act. On 26th September, 1997, SUDA submitted the draft development plan to the Government for obtaining sanction for revised development plan. In the revised development plan also, the subject lands were reserved under the head "for commercial purpose for SUDA". An entry viz., C-24 came to be made in this behalf in the draft development plan. During the pendency and approval of the development plan by the Government, SUDA proposed modification in the draft development plan whereby the reservation of the subject lands was dropped. The Government issued a notification dated 17th May, 2001 inviting objections against the proposed modification and suggestions to be made to SUDA in the revised development plan. In the said notification, item No.176 was in respect of deletion of entry of "reservation for commercial purpose for SUDA" and designation of the subject lands as "residential lands" under section 12(2)(a) of the Town Planning Act. Since the petitioners' land was sought to be released from reservation, there was no question of the petitioners submitting any objections against the notification of SUDA. Vide notification issued on 2nd September, 2004, the Government finally sanctioned the development plan submitted by SUDA wherein the Government did not approve the modification mentioned in Item No.176 and ultimately the subject lands were continued in reservation for commercial purpose of SUDA. Thereafter, the Government of Gujarat declared its intention to frame Town Planning Scheme No.27 (Bhatar Majura) (hereinafter referred to as "the Town Planning Scheme"). SUDA submitted the draft Town Planning Scheme to the Government which came to be published vide a notification dated 7th September, 1999 wherein it was proposed to allot final plot of 2058 square metres against the land bearing Survey No.88. Similarly, upon reconstitution of Survey No.46/1, the petitioners were allotted land admeasuring 874 square metres against Survey No.46/1. In part plans (Annexure 'J' and 'K' to the petition), there is no reference regarding any reservation of the subject lands but the final plots are allotted to the original owners (the petitioners). In Column 16 of Form 'L', it is observed that the ownership in final plot will be as per the share of the original owners in the original land. In Column No.16, there is also reference to continuation of reservation of the subject lands as per entry C-31 referred to in the finally sanctioned development plan.

(3.) It is the case of the petitioners that their lands are kept under reservation since 1986 and that continuation of the reservation is arbitrary, unjust, illegal and malafide. The petitioners, therefore, made several representations in this regard to the respondent authorities; however, there was no response thereto. Thereafter, the petitioners issued a notice dated 13th October, 2007 under sub-section (2) of section 20 of the Town Planning Act to the respondent authorities; however, the subject lands were neither sought to be acquired by consent nor were any proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act initiated in this regard. Being aggrieved by the continued reservation of the subject lands by the respondents, the petitioners have filed the present petition seeking the relief noted hereinabove.