1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.7557 OF 2009 Chandrakant Rangappa Bhandari ...Petitioner vs. Gram Panchayat Lonand ...Respondent Mr.P.B.Shah for the petitioner None for the respondent CORAM :A.S.OKA,J. DATE : SEPTEMBER 22, 2009 P.C. 1 Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner. He states that the notice has been served to the office of the learned Additional Government Pleader. He pointed out that the Collector, District Satara has been already been impleaded as a party. He invited my attention to the application dated 12 th August 2009 made by the petitioner to the Collector of the District Satara for regularisation of the occupation of the petitioner over the suit property. The learned counsel for the petitioner states that even in the year 2001, the petitioner has made an application for regularisation. He states that both the applications are pending. 2 On instructions of the petitioner, he seeks permission to withdraw the suit with liberty to prosecute the said applications. He submitted that the Collector be 2 directed to decide the pending applications within a time bound schedule and the petitioner be protected for a reasonable time. The said request is reasonable and deserves to be accepted. 3 Hence, I pass the following order : i) Regular Civil Suit No. 69 of 2009 filed by the petitioner stands dismissed as withdrawn. The trial Court will pass a formal order on the suit on the basis of this order. ii)The District Collector, Satara shall decide the applications for regularisation made by the petitioner including the application dated 12 th August 2009 The Collector to decide the same as expeditiously as possible and preferably within a period of three months from today. iii)The order passed on the said applications shall be communicated to the petitioner as expeditiously as possible and in any event within a period of 15 days from the date on which the applications are decided. iv)Status quo as of today in respect of the suit property shall be maintained by the parties till the applications filed by the petitioner are decided by the Collector. If the order passed on the said applications is adverse to the petitioner, the order of status quo will continue to operate for a period 3 of four weeks from the communication of order is received by the petitioner. v) The Collector, District Satara will act upon an authenticated copy of this order. vi)All questions on merits of the pending applications are kept open. vii)Writ Petition is disposed of in above terms. JUDGE