( 1 ) IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 9702 OF 2010 Ajinath s/o. Narayan Dhakne .. Petitioner Age. 26 years, Occ. Business, R/o. Bavi, Tq. Shirur (Kasar), Dist. Beed. Versus 1. The State of Maharashtra .. Respondents Through its Secretary, Revenue Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai – 32. 2. The Collector, Beed. 3. The Special Land Acquisition Officer, Minor Irrigation, Beed. 4. The District Rehabilitation Officer, Beed. WITH WRIT PETITION NO. 9746 OF 2010 Keshav s/o. Narayan Kedar .. Petitioner Age. 44 years, Occ. Agri., R/o. Warni, Tq. Shirur (Kasar), Dist. Beed. Versus ( 2 ) 1. The State of Maharashtra .. Respondents Through its Secretary, Revenue Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai – 32. 2. The Collector, Beed. 3. The Special Land Acquisition Officer, Minor Irrigation, Beed. 4. The District Rehabilitation Officer, Beed. Mr. Vijay A. Dhakne, Advocate for the petitioners. Mrs. A.V. Gondhalekar, A.G.P. for the respondents. CORAM : B.R. GAVAI & A.A. SAYED, JJ. DATED : 28.10.2010 ORAL JUDGMENT [PER : B.R. GAVAI,J.] :- 1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard by consent. 2. By way of present petitions, the petitioners challenge orders dated 05.06.2010 and 16.08.2010, thereby rejecting the petitioners’ applications for issuing certificate as Project Affected Persons. ( 3 ) 3. The petitioners’ lands were acquired for village percolation tank. As such, the petitioners had applied for grant of Project Affected Person Certificate. The applications are rejected on the ground that since the lands were acquired for percolation tank, said certificates cannot be issued. 4. Perusal of sub-section (10) of section 2 of the Maharashtra Project Affected Persons Rehabilitation Act, 1999, would reveal that the definition of “project” has been given a wide meaning. It also includes any work of construction, extension, improvement or development which is incidental or supplemental to the execution of a project, such as construction of pump house, lift irrigation scheme, colony, etc. 5. In that view of the matter, the impugned order is not sustainable in law. Rule is, therefore, made absolute by directing respondent No.4 to issue Project Affected Person Certificate to the petitioners. The same shall be done within a period of six weeks from today. ( 4 ) 6. The writ petitions stand disposed of. [A.A. SAYED,J.] [B.R. GAVAI,J.] snk/2010/OCT10/wp9702.10