1 rpa IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 746 OF 2010 Prakash Babu Patil & Anr. ....Petitioners Versus The State of Maharashtra & Ors. ...Respondents Mr. T. S. Ingale for the Petitioners. Mrs. Neha Bhide, A.G.P. For Respondent Nos. 1 to 3. CORAM : R. V. MORE, J. DATED : APRIL 6 , 2010. P.C.: Rule. 2. Rule, made returnable forthwith, by consent. 3. The Petition is taken up for final hearing. 4. The Petitioners by filing the aforesaid writ petition challenges the legality and propriety of the order dated 2nd December, 2009 passed by the Respondent No.2 District Resettlement Officer, rejecting Petitioners application for grant of certificate as to Project Affected 2 Person for the purpose of service. 5. There is no dispute that the land Gat No. 719 admeasuring about 1 Acres and 7 Gunthas situated at village Amnapur, Taluka Tasgaon, District Sangli belonging to the Petitioners father has been acquired for the construction of Pune­Miraj Broad­Gauge Railway Line, in the year 1966. The Petitioners thereafter on 10th November, 2009 by filing an application before Respondent No.2 claimed certificate to the effect that they are Project Affected Person. This application was rejected on the ground that certificate cannot be granted to the persons whose land is acquired for Railway Line. 6. Having gone through the Petition alongwith the annexures and having heard the learned counsel for the respective parties, I find merit in the petition. Admittedly, the land belonging to the Petitioners family was acquired for Pune­Miraj Broad­Gauge Railway Lines in the year 1966. Section 2(10) of the Maharashtra Project Affected Persons Rehabilitation Act, 1986 (herein after referred as the said Act) defines ‘Project’ as follows : “2(10) “project” means.­ (a) an irrigation project, that is to say, the 3 construction, extension, improvement or development of any work for the supply of water for the purpose of irrigation ; (b) a power project, that is to say, construction, extension, improvement or development of any work for the production or supply of electricity or any work conducive to electrical development ; (c) a public utility project, that is to say, any work of the construction, extension, improvement or development of public utility other than irrigation project and power project ; or (d) any composite project of any of the two or more such projects; and includes any work of construction, extension, improvement of development which is incidental or supplemental to the execution of a project ; and which results in rendering the holders or occupants of land, which may be used for such project, as affected persons and in respect of which a notification is issued under section 11;” 7. The provisions of clause (c) of section 2(10) of the said Act, makes it clear that the Petitioners land is also acquired for the “Project” within the meaning of above provisions of section 2(10) of the said Act. 8. Similar question was considered by the Devision Bench of this Court in Nagesh Alias Satish Nagorao Pande V/s. State of Maharashtra & Ors., reported in 1995 Mh.L.J. 154 and learned Single Judge in writ petition no. 5558 of 1999 between Jagannath Dhondi Bhosale & Anr. V/s. State of Maharashtra and Ors. The Division Bench 4 held that the land acquired for the Government Medical College will have to be deemed for the land acquired for the Project within the meaning of section 2(10) of the said Act. So far as the Judgment of the learned Single Judge is concerned, the Petitioners therein was the cousin of the present Petitioner whose land was also acquired for Pune­Miraj Broad­Gauge Railway land. The learned Single Judge after considering the definition of “Project” was pleased to grand certificate, as claimed by him. 9. The decision of both, the Division Bench as well as the learned Single Judge are clearly applicable to the fact and circumstances of the case. The Petition is, therefore, allowed in terms of prayer clause (b). No order as to costs. (R. V. MORE, J.)