RAJARAM SAVLA MOHITE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has prayed for writ of mandamus against the respondent nos. 3 and 4 and for a declaration that the petitioner is entitled for a residential plot and an alternate land from the benefitted zone of the Wang-Marathwadi Medium Irrigation Project. The petitioner also prayed for directions against the respondents to issue notices under Sec. 16(2)(a) of the Maharashtra Project Affected Persons Rehabilitation Act, 1999.

(2.) The ancestral lands and house of the petitioner were acquired by the State Authorities since the same were to be submerged under the Wang-Marathwadi Medium Irrigation Project between the period 1996-99. The Special Land Acquisition Officer acquired the said writ property and paid compensation to the petitioner on 5/3/2001. The petitioner accepted the said compensation without any protest. On 5/7/2022, the petitioner made an application/representation to the respondents for a land under the provisions of Maharashtra Project Affected Persons Rehabilitation Settlement Act, 1999. Since the said application is not considered by the respondents, the petitioner filed this petition.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner invited our attention to some of the exhibits annexed to the petition including application dtd. 5/7/2022 and submitted that the said application under Sec. 16(1) (a) made on 5/7/2022 for allotment of the land is still pending. He relied upon the judgment delivered by this Court on 2/5/2011 in Writ Petition No. 8385 of 2010 in case of Ram Shankar Deshmukh and Ors. vs. State of Maharashtra and Ors. and in companion matters and also judgment dtd. 7/2/2017 delivered by the Division Bench of this Court in Writ Petition No. 8988 of 2013 in case of Dadabhau Pandurang Agarkar vs. State of Maharashtra and Ors. and companion matters. He also relied upon the judgment delivered by the Division Bench of this Court on 27/10/2016 in Review Petition (St) No. 34787 of 2015 in Writ Petition No. 3758 of 2011 in case of The Collector of Pune and Others vs. Sakharam Tukaram Shivekar and Anr.