1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD Writ Petition No.8009 OF 2009 * Dadasaheb s/o Bhausaheb Pathare, Age 53 years, Occupation : Agriculture, R/o At Post Village Wadule, Taluka Parner, District Ahmednagar. ... Petitioner. Versus 1) The State of Maharashtra, Through Secretary, Minor Irrigation Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai. 2) The Collector, Ahmednagar, District Ahmednagar. 3) The Special Land Acquisition Officer No.12, Ahmednagar. 4) The Sub Divisional Engineer, Minor Irrigation (Local level) Sub Division Parner, Taluka Parner, District Ahmednagar. ... Respondents. -------- 2 Shri. Sandeep S. Deshmukh, Advocate for petitioner. Shri. R.P. Phatke, Additional Government Pleader for respondents. -------- CORAM: NARESH H PATIL & K.K. TATED, JJ. DATE: 16th JULY, 2010 ORAL JUDGMENT (Per Naresh H Patil, J.): 1) Heard. 2) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and by consent of the counsel taken up for final hearing. 3) The petitioner's land was subjected to acquisition under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act. The petitioner contends that on 5-1-2001 Notification under section 4 of the Act came to be published in the Official Gazette. The subject land was 3 acquired for construction of percolation tank. Declaration under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act was not issued. On 15-7-2004 the respondents again issued Notification under section 4 which was published in the Official Gazette, according to the petitioner. On 21-5-2005 a declaration under section 6 of the Act came to be published in the Official Gazette wherein acquisition in respect of Gut No.182 admeasuring 1 Hectare 29 R belonging to the petitioner was mentioned. As no further steps could be taken consequent to the acquisition proceedings the petitioner approached this Court seeking directions to declare that the land acquisition proceedings had lapsed and for payment of rental compensation. 4) The learned counsel Shri. Deshmukh submitted that in the proceedings of Writ 4 Petition No.1445 of 2007 a Division Bench of this Court (Coram: Naresh H Patil & S.R. Dongaonkar, JJ) on 17th December 2008 had issued general orders to the Collector Ahmednagar wherein identical situation was brought to the notice of the Court. In spite of the same, no steps were taken and therefore the petitioner was left with no alternative than to approach this Court. 5) Consequent to the notice issued, the learned Additional Government Pleader obtained instructions. By an order dated 9th July 2010 we recorded the statement of the learned Additional Government Pleader and adjourned the matter. 6) The learned Additional Government Pleader Shri. Phatke today placed on record a copy of Section 4 Notification which has been 5 forwarded by the Special Land Acquisition Officer by communication dated 15-7-2010 for publication in the Official Gazette in respect of the petitioner's land which has been admittedly used for construction of percolation tank. The percolation tank, according to the petitioner, has already been constructed. 7) It is disturbing to note that in spite of our directions issued in Writ Petition No.1445 of 2007, cases, like the present one, are still being brought to the notice of this Court as helpless petitioners have no other alternatives. The petitioner's land was subjected to acquisition which was utilized for the public purpose and since last 10 years the petitioner has not been paid compensation against acquisition of his land. Now the Special Land Acquisition Officer No. 6 12, Ahmednagar decided to issue Notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act and had accordingly taken steps towards that. In the process, it cannot be forgotten that the State Government will have to determine the compensation of the land as on the date of issuance of Section 4 Notification. Needless to mention the valuation of the land as available in 2001 would be certainly different than the valuation arrived at in the year 2010. The State authorities will have to fasten responsibility on the responsible officers for these serious lapses. Stringent steps will have to be taken to curb such lapses to occur in future. 8) It cannot be forgotten that public money is involved which cannot be spent as per whims of the concerned officers. Inaction in this regard amounts to dereliction of duty and 7 misconduct. 9) We, therefore, direct the State Government to circulate the order passed by this Court today and the order passed in Writ Petition No.1445 of 2007 to all the District Collectors in the State of Maharashtra with instructions that cases of this nature shall be identified and immediate steps shall be taken so that public money is saved and the deserving claimants are compensated in time. 10) We direct the Collector Ahmednagar to initiate inquiry against the concerned Special Land Acquisition Officer and submit Action Taken Report to this Court. The Registry is directed to forward a copy of this order to the Secretary to Government, Irrigation Department. 8 11) The petition, therefore, succeeds. The respondent Nos.2 and 3 shall complete the entire acquisition proceedings including declaration of award by the Collector and payment of compensation to the petitioner - claimant within a period of one year from the date of receipt of the order. The respondent No.2 or respondent No.3 shall pay cost of Rs. 10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) to the petitioner within four weeks. 12) Rule is made absolute. Authenticated copy be given to the learned Additional Government Pleader. Sd/- Sd/- (K.K. TATED, J.) (NARESH H PATIL, J.) rsl/ wp.8009.09