NIZAMUDDIN HUSAINSAHEB PIRJADE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. The Respondents waive service. By consent of parties, Rule is made returnable forthwith, and the Writ Petition is taken up for final hearing and disposal.

(2.) This Petition, filed in 2018, is essentially a challenge to an order passed by the Respondent No. 2, Divisional Commissioner, Pune Division, in January 20061, rejecting a revision application filed by the Petitioners under Sec. 48(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 ("the Land Acquisition Act"). The primary prayer in this Petition was for a declaration that the acquisition had lapsed by reason of Sec. 24 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 ("2013 Act"). However, it has been fairly stated that this prayer is not being pressed by reason of the law declared on the subject by the Supreme Court. Instead, the Petitioners seek a declaration that the acquisition was illegal owing to wrong computation of the agricultural land in their ownership.

(3.) The matter at hand has had a chequered history. Essentially, the matter involves land originally owned by one Mr. Babasaheb Originally, the prayer in Paragraph 30(b) of the Petition referred to this order as being passed in June 2006, while the amended and added prayer at Paragraph 30(bb) provides a date of February, 2006. However, the order, appended before and after the Petition was amended to bring on record documents received under the Right to Information Act, 2005, shows the typed date simply as January 2006 (without a date) but it appears to have been signed on February 8, 2006. Khadirsaheb Pirjade, whose grandchildren are the four Petitioners in this Petition, namely, Mr. Nizamuddin Husainsaheb Pirjade, Mr. Lajam Badesaheb Pirjade, Mr. Molaali Badesaheb Pirjade and Mr. Shahanawaj Badesaheb Pirjade. According to the Petitioners, Mr . Babasaheb Khadirsaheb Pirjade's total holding of agricultural land was about 10 hectares and 99 Ares.