1 W.P.No.2404 of 2010 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY, BENCH AT AURANGABAD. WRIT PETITION NO. 2404 OF 2010 1. Devichand s/o Kishanlal Agrawal, age 55 yrs, occ. Business, 2. Lala Kishanlal Agrawal, Dharmarth Trust Through its President petitioner no.1 3. Vishal s/o Devichand Agrawal, age 30 yrs., occ.Business, 4. Kuldeep s/o Devichand Agrawal, age 34 yrs, occ. Business, All r/o Agrawal Bhavan, Bhavani Road, Tuljapur, Tq. Tuljapur, Dist. Osmanabad ..PETITIONERS VERSUS 1. The State of Maharashtra, Through its Secretary Urban Development Department Mantralaya, Mumbai 2. The Director, Town Planning, Maharashtra State, Pune 3. The Collector, Osmanabad, Dist. Osmanabad 4. The Town Planner, Office of Town Planning, Central Building, Osmanabad 2 W.P.No.2404 of 2010 5. The Municipal Council, Tuljapur, Dist. Osmanabad Through its Chief Officer 6. The Town Planning Authority, Municipal Council, Tuljapur, Dist. Osmanabad ..RESPONDENTS Mr K.S. Bhore, Advocate for the petitioners; Mr P.P. More, Asstt. Govt. Pleader for respondents no.1 to 4; Mr K.K. Kulkarni, Advocate for respondent nos.5 and 6 CORAM : SMT. NISHITA MHATRE AND M.T. JOSHI, JJ. DATE : 28th April, 2011 ORAL JUDGMENT (PER SMT. MHATRE, J.) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith by consent. 2. By this petition the petitioners seek release of their lands which have been reserved for a play-ground in the development plan for the town of Tuljapur. According to the petitioners, since no steps have been taken after the purchase notice was issued by the respondents for acquisition of their lands, they are entitled to have it de-reserved. 3. The brief facts in the present case are as follows :- 3 W.P.No.2404 of 2010 The first revision of the draft development plan for the town of Tuljapur was made on 31st March, 1988. It was given effect on 1st August, 1988. The petitioners purchased lands bearing C.T.S. Nos. 3909/1, 3909/2, 3909/3, 3909/5, 3909/6 and 3909/7, situated in Block No.192/7, ad measuring 69 Ares. These lands were purchased by sale deeds executed in favour of the petitioners on 1st September, 1998, 11th May, 2002 and 1st July, 2002. The petitioners requested the Municipal Council, Tuljapur i.e. respondent no.5 herein to inform them about the status of the aforesaid lands. Accordingly, a reply was sent by respondent no.5 on 21st December, 2004 indicating that these lands were reserved for a play-ground as per the development plan of 1988. 4. On 16.2.2005, a notice was issued by the petitioners under section 127 of the Maharashtra Regional & Town Planning Act (hereinafter referred to as the "MRTP Act", for the sake of brevity) to the competent authority indicating their intent to develop the property and, therefore, seeking de-reservation of the lands. A resolution was passed by respondent no.5 to acquire the aforesaid property on 20th April, 2005. A proposal for acquisition was sent to the Collector, Osmanabad on 29th July, 2005. Thereafter, on 21st April, 2006 respondent no.5 passed a resolution under section 38 read with sec. 23 (1) of the MRTP Act declaring its intention of a second revision of the draft development plan for the town of Tuljapur. This declaration was published on 6th July, 2006 in the Gazette. A survey was carried out under section 25 of the MRTP 4 W.P.No.2404 of 2010 Act. A notice was published on 22nd February, 2009 under section 25 of the MRTP Act regarding the preparation of a revised draft development plan. Objections and suggestions were invited from the public. On the basis of the objections and suggestions received, certain modifications were made in the plan under section 29 of the MRTP Act. Thereafter on 22nd February, 2010 a draft development plan was submitted to the State Government for sanction under section 30 of the MRTP Act. Accordingly, the State Government has accorded sanction to the draft development plan under section 31 of the Act on 14th October, 2010. 5. We have been informed by the learned Advocate appearing for the respondent no.5 Municipal Council that the petitioners' lands have been excluded from the notification issued on 14th October, 2005 under section 31 of the MRTP Act. 6. In our view, since a notification has been issued under section 31 of the MRTP Act, the question of releasing the land owned by the petitioners from the reservation does not arise in the present petition. The notification issued on 14th October, 2010 indicates that suggestions and objections are invited with respect to the modifications from any person who is affected by the modifications made in the excluded part of the development plan. These suggestions and objections were required to be made within sixty days of the publication of the notice in the Official 5 W.P.No.2404 of 2010 Gazette. All suggestions and objections were to be directed to the Deputy Director of Town Planning, who was expected to consider these objections after hearing the persons raising such objections. 7. In these circumstances, in our opinion, the provisions of section 127 of the MRTP Act cannot be invoked by the petitioners at this stage. It is only when the development plan is finalized that the question of lapsing of reservations would arise under section 127 of the MRTP. 8. In our view, therefore, the petitioners are not entitled to any relief in the present petition. However, since the petitioners lands have been excluded from the modification issued on 14th October, 2010 under section 31 of the MRTP Act, the petitioners are at liberty to redress their grievance, if any, by availing of appropriate remedies. Petition dismissed accordingly. Rule discharged. No order as to costs. (M.T. JOSHI, J.) ( SMT. NISHITA MHATRE, J.) amj/wp2404.10