JUDGMENT

VENKATACHALIAH, J.:— Petitioners seek special leave to appeal to this Court from the order dated 18-9-1989 made by the Bombay High Court, Aurangabad Bench, dismissing appellants Writ Petition No. 2404 of 1989 in which they assailed certain contracts of the Municipal Council of Jalgaon with a Developer of real estate for the execution of a project for Administrative Building and a Commercial Complex on a plot of land belonging to the Municipality.

2. We have heard Sri R. K. Jain, learned Senior Advocate for the Petitioners; Sri K. K. Singhvi, Sri A. S. Bhasme and Dr. Y. S. Chitale, learned Senior Advocates for Respondents 1, 4, 5 and 6 respectively.

Special leave granted. The main appeal is taken up for final hearing, heard and disposed of by this judgment.

3. The controversy relates to a project for the development of real estate sponsored by the Town Municipal Council, Jalgaon, in the State of Maharashtra. In the year 1913 the Municipal Council, it would appear, received by way of gift of a piece of land of an extent of 5 acres and 32 guntas from a certain Lila Dhar Bhatia. The land had been in the use of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee, Jalgaon, as a cotton-market and wholesale fruit and vegetable market. The Municipal Council having entertained the idea of putting the land to a better and more profitable use persuaded the Market Committee to yeild-up possession. The terms of the original gift, it would appear, stipulated conditions that the land be put to use for only as a cotton and vegetable market. In order to enable itself to put the land to uses other and more beneficial uses and to exploit the commercial-potential which the property had with the passage of time acquired, the Municipal Council appears to have approached the heirs of the original donor who appear to have agreed to amend the terms of the gift accordingly. But the permission was not without strings attached. The project as envisaged by the Municipal Council, contemplated, amongst other things, the erection of a commercial complex. The heirs appear to have bargained for and secured a benefit that they should be given five-shops free of cost in the commercial complex.

4. The Municipal Council invited competitive proposals as to the ways in which the potential of the land could be commercially exploited and invited competitive plans and designs on the basis of which the Architects could be selected from architects all over the country. By its Resolution dated 17-3-1988 the Municipal Council selected M/s. Kabra Chaudhary Associates as Architects for the project.

The project envisaged a Central Administrative Building with ground plus 17 floors intended to be utilised by the Municipal Council for locating its own offices and an adjacent structure with a basement plus five upper floors to be used as a vegetable-market and a commercial complex. The broad aspects as to the funding of the project were that the project was to be executed by a "Developer" who would be required to take up and execute the project at his own cost; that the developer would be obliged to rehabilitate 486 small-time vegetable vendors who were in occupation of the land in various units by providing them small stalls at, what was described as, a concessional-premium of Rs. 3,000/- per stall; that 83 more shops, at fixed premia of Rs. 40,000/ - each, be given to Adatias who were carrying on their business on the property and that, further, another 60 shops, at the same rate, be allotted to some traders who are stated to have encroached upon the land. This was in addition to the five shops, which had to be made available to the heirs of the original donor free of cost. The nature of the rights conferred on to these beneficiaries is stated to be "occupancy rights" for a period of 50 years u/ S. 272(1) of the Maharashtra Municipalities Act, 1965 (Act for short) which regulated the matter. The municipality would get rents from those occupants at rates stipulated. The administrative