RANJEET SAMPATRAO RASKAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. Paranjape, learned advocate for petitioners in PIL No. 104 of 2023, Mr. Gorwadkar, learned senior advocate for petitioners in PIL No. 126 of 2023, Dr. Saraf, learned Advocate General for the State of Maharashtra and Mr. Kulkarni, learned advocate for the Pune Municipal Corporation.

(2.) These two Public Interest Litigation petitions primarily challenge a notification dtd. 31/3/2023 issued by the Urban Development Department, State of Maharashtra, which is referable to Sec. 3(3)(a) of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act, 1949 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act of 1949").

(3.) The arguments of the learned counsel for the petitioners, assailing the impugned notification, revolve around the phrase "after consultation with the Corporation" occurring in Sec. 3(3)(a) of the Act of 1949 as interpreted by the Division Bench of this Court in Sandeep Pandurang Patil vs. The State of Maharashtra & Ors. (PIL Stamp No. 5619 of 2020), wherein this Court has, after elaborate discussion, construed the said phrase to mean an effective and meaningful consultation and further that "consultation with the Corporation" can only be "consultation with the Corporation" constituted under Sec. 5 of the Act of 1949, namely, the body corporate and will not mean consultation with the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation. Certain other arguments have also been made by the learned counsel for the petitioners in support of their petitions.