-1- IN IN IN THE THE THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL CIVIL CIVIL APPELLATE APPELLATE APPELLATE JURISDICTION JURISDICTION JURISDICTION WRIT WRIT WRIT PETITION PETITION PETITION NO.3320 OF 2008 NO.3320 OF 2008 NO.3320 OF 2008 Smt Motubai L. Choudhari ...Petitioner v/s The Deputy Collector and Competent Authority, Thane Urban Agglomeration, Thane and anr. ...Respondents Mr S.G. Karandikar for Petitioner. Mr A.H. Palekar, AGP for Respondents. CORAM : D.K. DESHMUKH AND J.P. DEVADHAR JJ. DATE : 4TH AUGUST 2008. -2- P.C. :- 1. Rule, returnable forthwith. Heard finally by consent of the parties. 2. Admittedly, the land from the holding of the petitioner was declared as surplus land under the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act 1976. Thereafter, Notification dated 4th November 2004 was issued under subsection (3) of section 10 of the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act 1976 and Notice under subsection (5) of section 10 of the said Act was issued on 8th February 2005 directing the petitioner to deliver possession of the land. According to the averments in the petition, possession of the land declared as surplus, however, was not taken by the Government till 29th November 2007 when the Act was repealed by the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Repeal Act 1999. According to the learned counsel appearing for petitioner, now proceedings for acquisition of land cannot continue and the land will revert back to the petitioners. The learned counsel appearing for petitioner relied on the judgment of Division Bench of this Court in writ petition No.8356 of 2006 (Voltas Ltd. and anr. v/s Additional Collector and Competent Authority, Urban Agglomeration, Thane and ors.) decided on 25th July 2008 to which one of us (D.K. -3- Deshmukh J.) is a party. The State Government has filed an affidavit and in paragraph 8 of that affidavit, the Government has stated that possession of the surplus land has not been taken over by the Government. Thus, it is an admitted position that till 29th November 2007, when the Repeal Act 1999 came into force, possession of the surplus land was not taken by the Government. In view of the matter therefore, petition will have to be allowed. Rule is made absolute in terms of prayer clause (d) with no order as to costs. 3. At the request of the learned Assistant Government Pleader, parties are directed to maintain status-quo in relation to the land which is subject matter of this petition, for a period of eight weeks from today. . Parties to act on the copy of this order duly authenticated by the Sheristedar / Private Secretary of the Court. . Certified copy expedited. ( D.K. DESHMUKH J.) ( J.P. DEVADHAR J.)