ASN 1 CA-185-10.sxw IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 185 OF 2010 IN PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION NO. 36 OF 2007 Harit Vasai Saurkshan. ..Petitioner. Vs. The State of Maharashtra and ors. ..Respondents. And Anna Shankar Shinde and ors. ..Applicants. Smt. Neeta Karnik for the Applicants. Mr. Uday Warungikar, Advocate for the original petitioner. Mr.V.D.Patil, A.G.P. With Neha Bhide, A.G.P. For Respondent Nos. 1,5,6 and 9 to 11. Mrs. J.J. Jahagirdar i/by A.R.S. Baxi for Respondent Nos. 7 and 8. CORAM : MOHIT S. SHAH, C.J. & S.J. KATHAWALLA, J. FRIDAY,NOVEMBER 26, 2010. PC : This application is for impleading the applicants as party respondents in the above PIL. The applicants 41 in number are permitted to intervene in PIL without joining them as formal parties-respondents. 2 It is the case of the learned counsel for the applicants that the applicants had put up tenements on the land in question prior to 1st January, 1995 or atleast prior to 1st January, 2000 and therefore, the ASN 2 CA-185-10.sxw applicants are entitled to be protected from demolition. The learned counsel for the applicants makes a grievance that the documents being produced by the applicants before the authorities in compliance with the directions given by this Court by an order dated 18th October, 2010 are not being accepted by the competent authorities i.e. Tahsildar, Palghar and S.D.O. Palghar. It is submitted that if the documents are not accepted from the applicants, the applicants will never be able to establish their entitlement to protection against demolition. The learned counsel for the applicants further states that the applicants propose to take out separate proceedings for regularization of their tenements as the land in question is not the Government land but belongs to the Adivasis and that it was only on account of alleged breach of the provisions restraining transfer of Adivasi land to non Adivasis, without permission of the Collector, that the Government today treats the land as Government land. 3 Without expressing any opinion on the issue about the ownership of the land qua which the applicants are at liberty to take out appropriate proceedings, we direct the Collector-respondent No.5 herein to issue appropriate instructions to the Tahsildar, Palghar and the S.D.O., Palghar to accept the documents which are being produced by the applicants. In order to ensure that no further time will be taken, we direct that the documents produced along with the application be considered by the competent authorities for verification whether the applicants have put up their tenements prior to 1st January,1995 or 1st January, 2000 and thereafter to take appropriate decision in the line with the directions contained in our order dated 18th October, 2010. In case the competent authorities hold against the applicants, it will be open to the ASN 3 CA-185-10.sxw aggrieved applicants to prefer an appeal before the Appellate Authority as indicated in our order dated 18th October, 2010. 4 It is clarified that the applicants are required to satisfy the competent authorities that their tenements were put up prior to 1st January, 1995 or 1st January, 2000 on the basis of the documents being produced by them before the competent authorities. Merely because the applicants’ names were not included in the survey record will not be a conclusive fact against the applicants. 5 The learned counsel for the applicants states that the applicants will produce the original documents before the competent authorities, of which the zerox copies are produced. 6 The applicants to produce all the original documents and the concerned authorities shall accept such documents for verification. 7 It is agreed by and between the parties that the applicants will appear before the Tahsildar, Palghar on 8th December, 2010 at 11.00 a.m. 8 Civil Application stands disposed of. CHIEF JUSTICE S.J. KATHAWALLA, J. ASN 4 CA-185-10.sxw