[1] IN IN IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION APPEAL NO.35 OF 2008 IN WRIT PETITION NO.1830 OF 2007 Prakashchandra Harilal Shah .... Appellant Vs. The Secretary, Housing Department, State Government of Maharashtra & Ors. .... Respondents Sri P.H. Shah, the Appellant in person. Sri Milind More, Asst. Government Pleader, for the Respondent Nos.1 and 2. Sarvasri N.V. Walawalkar, Senior Advocate with H.V. Kode i/b Sanjiv Sawant for the Respondent No.3. CORAM: CORAM: CORAM: SRI R.M.S. KHANDEPARKAR & SRI P.B. MAJMUDAR, JJ. DATED: DATED: DATED: JUNE 27, 2008 P.C: P.C: P.C: 1. Heard the appellant in person and the learned Advocates for the respondents. This appeal arises from the order dated 10-10-2007 passed by the learned single Judge in Writ Petition No.1830 of 2007 dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellant. 2. The writ petition was filed challenging the Notification issued under Section 14 of the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance & Redevelopment) Act, 1971 (hereinafter called as "the said Act") in relation [2] to the properties bearing CTS Nos.1603 to 1626, 1641 to 1650 and 1651 (Part) situated at Ghatkopar-Kirol, Taluka Kurla, District Mumbai Suburban. The challenge was on two counts: firstly, that no show cause notice as contemplated under Section 14(1) of the said Act was ever issued to the appellant and, secondly, there was no compliance of Section 5(1) of the said Act before issuance of the impugned Notification. The learned single Judge after hearing the appellant and on going through the records has rejected the challenge on both the counts and has further held that there was sufficient opportunity given to the appellant to put forth his contention in relation to the proposed acquisition and after hearing the appellant, the authorities have proceeded to acquire the land. It has also been held that the appellant has already claimed the amount of compensation in respect of the acquired land without reserving his right to challenge the acquisition and the land has already been transferred to the society wherein the development has already commenced. 3. Relying upon the decisions in the matters of Bengal Bengal Bengal Coal Co. Ltd. v. Chairman, Central Government Coal Co. Ltd. v. Chairman, Central Government Coal Co. Ltd. v. Chairman, Central Government Industrial Tribunal and others Industrial Tribunal and others Industrial Tribunal and others, reported in AIR 1963 Patna 118 and Jagdish Ram Sharma and others v. The Jagdish Ram Sharma and others v. The Jagdish Ram Sharma and others v. The State of Punjab and another State of Punjab and another State of Punjab and another, reported in AIR 1971 Punjab [3] & Haryana 139, the appellant submitted that the whole exercise of acquisition is without jurisdiction and, therefore, illegal and being so, mere participation in the acquisition proceedings in relation to the fixation of compensation would not give validity to such acquisition proceedings and therefore the challenge to the impugned order could not have been rejected by the learned single Judge. 4. The records apparently disclose that the land has been already acquired and the possession thereof already taken by the competent authorities consequent to the acquisition proceedings and considering the same the land in question has already vested absolutely in the Government free from all encumbrances in terms of Section 14(2) of the said Act. Once the land vests in the Government, question of entertaining objections to the acquisition proceedings does not arise. 5. Even otherwise, undisputedly, the appellant has participated in the acquisition proceedings in relation to fixation of the compensation and has even expressed desire to accept the amount fixed as compensation for the land, without reserving his right to challenge the acquisition proceedings. In these circumstances, question of entertaining the petition at the instance of the appellant to the acquisition proceedings does not [4] arise and viewed from this angle, no fault can be found with the impugned order. 6. The decisions sought to be relied upon have no application to the matter in hand. In Bengal Coal Bengal Coal Bengal Coal Company’s Company’s Company’s case (supra), it was held that whenever special jurisdiction is conferred upon a Court or Tribunal by a statute and the special jurisdiction is conferred upon terms, it is essential that the terms must be complied with in order to create the special jurisdiction and no amount of acquiescence can bestow jurisdiction upon the Court which it does not possess. Mere irregularity in the exercise of jurisdiction would not result in ousting the authority from the jurisdiction to perform the act authorised to be performed under the statutory provisions. 7. In Jagdish Ram Sharma’s Jagdish Ram Sharma’s Jagdish Ram Sharma’s case (supra), it was held that there was no emergency as such for invoking the provision of Section 17(2)(c) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and, therefore, there was no reason for excluding the provisions of Section 5-A of the Land Acquisition Act while acquiring the land. That is not the case in the matter in hand. 8. It is also to be noted that the appellant’s initial challenge to the declaration of the area as slum area [5] was rejected by the learned single Judge while dismissing his Writ Petition No.1026 of 1998 on 26/27-2-2002 and the said order was not interfered with by the Division Bench in Appeal No.665 of 2002 as the same was dismissed on 1-10-2002. Even the challenge to the implementation of the S.R.A. Scheme in the land in question was rejected by the learned single Judge while dismissing Writ Petition No.2600 of 2004 by order dated 6-10-2004. In the circumstances, we find no case for interference in the impugned order. 9. Before parting with the matter, we consider it appropriate to record the statement on behalf of the respondents that the compensation payable to the appellant will be paid to the appellant within three weeks. The appeal accordingly stands disposed of as rejected with the above observations. (P.B.Majmudar, J.) (R.M.S.Khandeparkar, J.) sjs/J8a35.8 sjs/J8a35.8 sjs/J8a35.8