ANIRUDH SUBASH NAIK Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith. With the consent of the parties, the petitions are taken up for final disposal at the stage of admission.

(2.) The petitioners in all the aforesaid petitions are agriculturists whose lands are sought to be acquired for the public purpose of construction of State Highway (Special) No. 2A, being an 8-lane Super Express Highway proposed from Jalna to Nanded, which is intended to function as an extension of the existing Nagpur -Mumbai Samruddhi Highway. At the time of institution of these petitions, the primary challenge raised by the petitioners was to the communication dtd. 10/1/2025 issued by the Collector, Parbhani. However, during the pendency of these proceedings, the Land Acquisition Officer in respect of the said State Highway passed an award dtd. 29/9/2025. Consequently, all the petitioners, by way of amendment to their respective petitions, have extended their challenge to the said award, substantially on similar and overlapping grounds. Since all these petitions involve identical questions of law and arise out of the same subject matter pertaining to the said acquisition proceedings, they were heard together. Learned Senior Counsel Mr. Prasad Dhakephalkar appearing for the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 3703 of 2025 and Learned Senior Counsel Mr. Surel Shah appearing in Writ Petition No. 13025 of 2025 advanced elaborate submissions. The learned advocates appearing in the connected petitions adopted the arguments advanced by the aforesaid learned senior counsels and have also tendered written submissions. The learned Advocate General appearing for the State of Maharashtra and its officers, and Learned Senior Counsel Mr. Vijay Patil appearing on behalf of respondent MSRDC, also advanced common arguments opposing all the petitions. In view of the commonality of issues, pleadings, and arguments, all the aforesaid petitions are being decided by this common judgment and order.

(3.) The factual background giving rise to the present writ petitions, as placed on record by the petitioners, indicates that the State of Maharashtra, by Government Resolution dtd. 12/5/2015, constituted a District Level Committee for the purpose of acquisition of lands through agreement with landholders for irrigation and other public projects in the State. The said Committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of the Collector, with the Land Acquisition Officer acting as its Secretary, and District Heads of various Government Departments were appointed as members of the said Committee. Thereafter, on 29/5/2018, the Government of Maharashtra issued a further Government Order stipulating that whenever land is to be acquired for construction of a highway under the provisions of the Maharashtra Highways Act, the compensation payable under Sec. 19B of the said Act is required to be determined in accordance with the provisions contained in Ss. 26 to 30 and Schedule I of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as "the New Land Acquisition Act"). It is the case of the petitioners that if a landholder agrees to accept such compensation and enters into an agreement with the Government, then in addition to the compensation so determined, an additional amount of 25% of such compensation is required to be paid to the landholder over and above the statutory compensation. The said Government Order further provided that the decision regarding payment of the additional 25% amount is to be taken by the District Level Committee constituted under the Government Resolution dtd. 12/5/2015.