MAHESH SUBHASH SOKIYA AND ANOTHER v. THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THROUGH DEPARTMENT OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND OTHERS
Case Details
- 1 - IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD 904 WRIT PETITION NO.10521 OF 2023 MAHESH SUBHASH SOKIYA AND ANOTHER VERSUS THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THROUGH DEPARTMENT OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND OTHERS WITH 905 WRIT PETITION NO.10534 OF 2023 BHIMLAL HEMRAJ MHASKE AND OTHERS VERSUS THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THROUGH DEPARTMENT OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND OTHERS WITH 910 WRIT PETITION NO.11063 OF 2023 ASHISH TEJMALJI MUGDIYA AND ANOTHER VERSUS THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THROUGH DEPARTMENT OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND OTHERS WITH 911 WRIT PETITION NO.11066 OF 2023 ASHISH TEJMALJI MUGDIYA AND ANOTHER VERSUS THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THROUGH DEPARTMENT OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND OTHERS Mr.D.P.Palodkar, Advocate for the Petitioners. Mr.V.M.Kagne, AGP for the Respondent/State. Mr.V.G.Deshmukh h/f Mr.S.S.Tope, Advocate for Respondent Nos. 5 and 6 in WP Nos.10521/2023, 10534/2023 and 11066/2023. ( CORAM : RAVINDRA V. GHUGE AND Y. G. KHOBRAGADE, JJ.) DATE : SEPTEMBER 5, 2023 khs/Sept.2023/10521 PER COURT : - 2 - 1. The Petitioners are identically placed and have put forth identical prayers below Clause B (a, b and c) and D as under :-
Legal Reasoning
"(B) The Hon'ble High Court may be pleased to issue appropriate writ, order or direction in the nature of writ and thereby direct the respondents to : a) Issue Reservation Credit Certificate (RCC) in favour of the petitioners within stipulated period of two weeks in lieu of acquisition of 9.80-R. (980 Sq.Mtrs) land/property of the petitioners situated in Survey No.192/2/7 (P) , Harsul, Taluka and Dist.Aurangabad, as per Registered Agreement / Relinquishment Deed dated 30.12.2022 bearing Day Book Entry No.9675/2022. b) Pay statutory interest from the date of taking over possession of the lands of the properties of the petitioners till issuance of RCC in favour of the petitioners as per the provisions of RFCTLARR Act, 2013. c) To pay damages @ 15% per annum to the petitioners over and above the amount of RCC on account of unnecessary delay in issuing RCC; (D) The Hon'ble High Court may be pleased to direct the respondents Nos. 1 and 2 to conduct Departmental Enquiry of all the officers who are responsible for causing inordinate delay in issuing RCC to the
Decision
petitioners as stated in the writ petition and more particularly in paragraph No.14." khs/Sept.2023/10521 - 3 - 2. Considering the short issue involved, we are not adverting to the entire sequence of events in these matters. Suffice it to say that the Petitioners have consented to receive the Reservation Credit Certificate as per clause 11.3 of the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations, 2020 (UDCPR). They have lost their lands in the widening of the road as per the Development Plan. The road has been widened upto 24 meters. It is undisputed that these Petitioners' lands have been utilized in the said project. 3. It is undisputed that, for the purposes of issuance of RCC, the valuation of the land as if in the nature of grant of compensation as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Re-settlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013 has to be arrived at. It is equally undisputed that the land loser has a right for compensation. If the acquiring body does not have money to be paid towards compensation, a Reservation Credit Certificate (RCC) to the extent of the compensation amount has to be issued. For the said purpose, the quantification of the compensation is necessary. 4. The Deputy Director, Town Planning of the Aurangabad khs/Sept.2023/10521 - 4 - Municipal Corporation, issued a reminder letter to the Special Land Acquisition Officer, Special Unit, Aurangabad on 07.12.2022, requesting him to tender the calculations as regards the compensation amount so as to enable the Authorities to issue the RCC. 5. On 05.01.2023, the SLAO addressed the Deputy Director, Town Planning in a short communication stating therein that his office does not have the jurisdiction to calculate the compensation amount. The Municipal Corporation then addressed the Director, Town Planning, State of Maharashtra (Pune) on 14.03.2023 complaining to him that the SLAO is not performing his duty and hence, he should be ordered to proceed to calculate the compensation amount or guide the authorities. On 07.06.2023, the Corporation once again addressed the SLAO for the calculations. 6. The Director, Town Planning, Maharashtra State addressed the Commissioner of Corporation vide letter dated 10.08.2023 as under :- " fo"k;kafdr izdj.kh] Hkwlaiknukpk ekscnyk UDCPR e/khy rjrqnhuqlkj Reservation Credit Certificate (RCC) P;k ek/;ekrwu ns.;kP;k vuq"kaxkus khs/Sept.2023/10521 - 5 - HkwlaiknukP;k ekscnY;kph ifjx.kuk egkuxjikfydsP;k vkLFkkiusojhy fo'ks"k Hkwlaiknu vf/kdkjh ;kaP;kdMwwu gks.ks vko';d vkgs fdaok dls] ;kckcr mfpr ekxZn'kZu gks.ksckcr mijksDr lanfHkZr i=kUo;s lapkyuky;kl fouarh dsysyh vkgs- lnj lanHkkZl vuql:u dGfo.;kar ;srs dh] UDCPR e/khy fofu;e dz-11-3 Lo;aLi"V vlwu R;krhy [kaM (iii) uqlkj RCC ps ek/;ekrwu tkxk rkC;kr ?ks.ksdkeh Hkwlaiknu dk;|krhy rjrqnhuqlkj ekscnY;kph jDde Bjowu R;kuqlkj rlsp fofu;e dz-11-3 e/khy vU; rjrqnhauk v/khu jkgwu RCC }kjs tkxk rkC;kr ?ks.;kph dk;Zokgh dj.ksckcr fu;kstu izkf/kdj.kkus R;kaps Lrjko#u fu.kZ; ?ks.ks vfHkizsr vkgs-" 7. This is a classic example of 2 Authorities lacking in co- ordination with each other and each one feels that the other would perform the duty. However, the correspondence placed before us, prima facie indicates that the Senior Authorities are of the firm view that the SLAO (Special Unit) has to perform this job of quantifying the compensation for the purposes of RCC. The Superior Authority to the SLAO is the District Collector. 8. In view of the above, we direct the District Collector to personally look into the matter and pass appropriate orders to ensure that the basis for issuing the RCC, which is the quantification of the khs/Sept.2023/10521 - 6 - compensation amount to be paid, should be calculated. If it is the SLAO, who has to do it, the District Collector shall order him and we direct that the SLAO would be duty bound to do the needful as per the said directions. 9. We also expect the District Collector to follow the due procedure in order to assess as to who would be responsible for the interest component, which would be a part of the RCC and should resort to a procedure as is established in Law, in order to fix the responsibility on the person on account of whose conduct, the delay in the calculations has occurred and which has consequentially delayed the issuance of the RCC. Appropriate steps shall be taken in this context and a compliance report shall be tendered before this Court by the District Collector on or before 04.11.2023. With the above directions, all these petitions are disposed 10. off. ( Y. G. KHOBRAGADE, J. ) ( RAVINDRA V. GHUGE, J.) khs/Sept.2023/10521