ANURADHA Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard finally with the consent of learned counsel appearing for the parties.

(2.) Petitioners have put forth following prayers:

(3.) The challenge put-forth by the petitioners is to the Notification dtd. 03/10/2023 passed by the authorities under Sec. 11(1) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (For short, 'Act of 2013') is raised since the lands belonging to the petitioners herein are put to acquisition. In relation to the project namely the 'Jigaon Major Project', the lands in question of the petitioners are acquired for rehabilitation of the village Yerli impacted by the aforesaid project, the process in relation to which commenced in the year 2008 by the State Government by its communication dtd. 29/07/2009 temporarily stayed the acquisition proceedings for the reason that the acquired land and other Government lands were available, therefore, new acquisition proceeding was temporarily halted. Thereafter, the Notification under Sec. 4 was issued on 02/02/2013 for acquisition of the land of the petitioners admeasuring 30.91 hectares was issued. The further case of the petitioners is that a meeting was conducted presided by the Minister of Rehabilitation and all other officers where it was agreed to drop the acquisition proceedings in relation to the land of the petitioners. In spite of the aforesaid understanding in the meeting dtd. 01/10/2013, acquisition proceedings were underway. Therefore, the petitioners approached this Court by presenting Writ Petition No.6881/2013. Considering the departure from the statutory mandate in relation to Ss. 6 and 7, this Court vide Judgment dtd. 19/01/2023 declared the award dtd. 02/12/2015 rendered in LAC No.10/2008-09, Mouza Nimgaon, Tq. Nandura, Dist. Buldhana as contrary to the statue. However, liberty was granted to the respondents to take appropriate steps in accordance with law, if they desire to acquire the aforesaid land afresh. Thereafter, the respondent ' authorities issued a notification dtd. 03/10/2023 under Sec. 11(1) of Act of 2013 for acquisition of land of the petitioners for rehabilitation of village Yerli which is the subject matter of challenge in the present petition. The same is assailed on the ground of non-compliance on the part of respondent ' authorities with Sec. 15 of the Act of 2013 which has vitiated the impugned notification since the objection presented by the petitioners herein is not dealt at all by the Collector as mandated by Sec. 15. This Court while issuing notice taking into account the report submitted by the Collector directed that the acquisition proceedings may continue, however, it was directed that the possession of the petitioners shall not be disturbed until further orders.