TMI Blog1987 (11) TMI 386X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n such period, the owner or any person interested in the land may serve notice on the Planning Authority, Development Authority or as the case may be, Appropriate Authority to that effect; and if within six months from the date of the service of such notice, the land is not acquired or no steps as aforesaid are commenced for its acquisition, the reservation, allotment or designation shall be deemed to have lapsed, and thereupon the land shall be deemed to be released from such reservation, allotment or designation and shall become available to the owner for the purpose of development or otherwise, permissible in the case of adjacent land under the relevant plan. The short point involved in this appeal by special leave from a judgment of a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court dated June 18, 1986, is whether the period of six months specified in s. 127 of the Act is to be reckoned from the date of service of the purchase notice dated July 1, 1977 by the owner on the Planning Authority i.e. the Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay here, or the date on which the requisite information of particulars furnished by the owner. The late Dr. Eruchshaw Jamshedji Hakim was the for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nted out that the Corporation had been assessing them to property tax in respect of the said property and issuing bills and receipts therefor and could not now question their title to ownership of the property. It was further said that as regards the number of tenants, the inspection registers maintained by the Corporation's Assessment Department, upon which the assessment of the rateable value of the various tenements was based, bear ample testimony. It was next stated that the property was partly residential, partly commercial and partly meant for storage. The trustees went on to say that they were not aware of any rule framed under the Act whereby the Planning Authority could make an inquiry at that stage without taking a decision on the material question and thereby attempt to extend the time limit of six months stipulated in s. 127. The said letter was received by the Executive Engineer on August 16, 1977 and presumably the information required was furnished on August 16, 1977. The Executive Engineer wrote to respondents nos. 4-7 stating that the period of six months allowed by s. 127 of the Act would accordingly commence on August 4, 1977, the date when the requisite i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... practice prevalent in the Corporation to compute the period of six months from the date of receipt of the information sought, he held that it was wholly unwarranted and entirely illegal. He accordingly struck down the impugned notification under s. 6 of the Land Acquisition Act and declared that the reservation of the land under the Development Plan had lapsed and it was open to the tenants of the property to claim that due to the lapse of reservation, the Planning Authority and the State Government had no jurisdiction to acquire the land in exercise of the powers under s.126 of the Act. Aggrieved, the appellant carried an appeal to a Division Bench under s. 15 of the Letters Patent. Bharucha, J. speaking for himself and Desai, J. upheld the view of the learned Single Judge and held that the most crucial step was the application to be made by the Corporation to the State Government under s. 126(1) of the Act for acquisition of the land, it ought to have been taken within the period of six months commencing from July 4, 1977, the date of service of the purchase notice. That decision proceeds upon the view that the details of ownership or particulars of tenants are not required to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the nature and user of the tenements and the total area occupied by them at present. The Corporation had the requisite information in their records. The High Court was therefore right in reaching the conclusion that it did. In the present case, the Planning Authority was the Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay. It cannot be doubted that the Municipal Corporation has access to all land records including the records pertaining to cadastral survey no. 176 of Tardeo. We are inclined to the view that the aforesaid letter dated July 28, 1977 addressed by the Executive Engineer was just as attempt to prevent the running of time and was of little or no consequence. As was rightly pointed out by respondents nos. 4-7 in their reply dated August 3, 1977, there was no question of the period of six months being reckoned from the date of the receipt from them of the information requisitioned. The Municipal Corporation had been assessing the trust properties to property tax and issuing periodic bills and receipts therefor and obviously could not question the title or ownership of the trust. We are informed that the building being situate on Falkland Road, the occupants are mostly dancing gir ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd. The rule is subject to an exception. Proviso to s. 126(2) interdicts that no such declaration shall be made after the expiry of three years from the date of publication of the draft regional plan, development plan or any other plan. Sub-s. (3) deals with the procedure to be followed for acquisition of the land covered by a declaration under s. 6 of the p Land Acquisition Act. Sub-s. (4) is of some relevance and reads as follows: (4). If a declaration is not made within the period referred to in sub-section (2) or having been made, the aforesaid period expired on the commencement of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (Amendment) Act, 1970, the State Government may make a fresh declaration for acquiring the land under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, in the manner provided by sub-sections (2) and (3) of this section, subject to the modification that the market value of the land shall be market value at the date of declaration in the official Gazette made for acquiring the land afresh. The conjoint effect of sub-ss. ( 1), (2) and (4) of s. 126 is that if no declaration is made within the period referred to in sub-s. (2), that is to say, before the expiry of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... its acquisition' obviously refer to the steps contemplated by s. 126(1). The effect of a declaration by the State Government under sub-s. (2) thereof, if it is satisfied that the land is required for the implementation of a regional plan, development plan or any other town planning scheme, followed by the requisite declaration to that effect in the official gazette, in the manner provided by s. 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, is to freeze the prices of the lands affected. The Act lays down the principles of fixation by providing firstly, by the proviso to s. 126(2) that no such declaration under sub-s. (2) shall be made after the expiry of three years from the date of publication of the draft regional plan, development plan or any other plan, secondly, by enacting sub-s. (4) of s. 126 that if a declaration is not made within the period referred to in sub-s. (2), the State Government may make a fresh declaration but, in that event, the market value of the land shall be the market value at the date of the declaration under s. 6 and not the market value at the date of the notification under s. 4, and thirdly, by s. 127 that if any land reserved, allotted or designated for any purp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o initiate the proceedings for acquisition. Instead of accepting the same, the Executive Engineer by his letter dated January 11, 1978 wanted respondents nos. 4-7 to disclose the basis upon which they claimed price at the rate of ₹ 650 per square metre. While keeping respondents nos. 4-7 in suspense, the Municipal Corporation had in the meanwhile on January 10, 1978 passed a Resolution that necessary steps be taken to move the State Government for acquisition of the land and thereafter actually moved the Government by their letter dated January 31, 1978 to make the requisite declaration under s. 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 i.e. the property in question was needed for, public purpose viz. a recreation ground under the Development Plan. The State Government accordingly on April 7, 1978 on being satisfied that the property was needed issued the requisite impugned notification under s. 6 of the Act. Thereafter, the Special Land Acquisition officer on January 18, 1979 issued a general notice under s. 9 of the Land Acquisition Act and the same was published at the site and also issued individual notices to the persons interested. The hearing was fixed for February 26, 1979. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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