JUDGMENT :

H.L. Gokhale, J.

What is the nature and significance of the planning process for a large Municipal town area? In that process, what is the role of the Municipal Corporation, which is the statutory planning authority? Can the State Government interfere in its decisions in that behalf and if so, to what extent? Does the State Government have the power to issue instructions to the Municipal Corporation to act in a particular manner contrary to the Development Plan sanctioned by the State Government, and that too a number of years after the Municipal Corporation having taken the necessary steps in consonance with the plan? Can the State Government instruct a Municipal Corporation to shift the reservation for a public amenity such as a primary school on a plot of land, and also instruct it to grant a development permission for residential purposes thereon without modifying the Development Plan? Could it still be considered as an action following the due process of law merely because a provision of Development Control Rules is relied upon, whether it is applicable or not? Or where the Municipal Corporation is required to take such contrary steps, supposedly on the instructions of the concerned Minister/Chief Minister, for the development of a property for the benefit of his relative, would such instructions amount to interference/mala fide exercise of power?

2. Is it permissible for the landowner and developer to defend the decision of the Government in their favour on the basis of a provision in the erstwhile Town Planning Scheme as against the purpose for which the land is reserved under the presently prevalent Development Plan? Is it permissible for the landowner and developer to explain and justify such a favourable Government decision by relying upon the authority of the Government under another section of the statute which is not even invoked by the Government? What inference is expected to be drawn in such a situation with respect to the role played by the ministers or the municipal officers? What orders are expected to be passed when such facts are brought to the notice of the High Court in a Public Interest Litigation? These are some of the issues which arise in this group of Civil Appeals in the context of the provisions of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 (for short MRTP Act) concerning a property situated in Pune Municipal area.

3. These appeals arise out of two writ petitions in public interest leading to concurrent judgments and a common order dated 6th - 15th March 1999 passed by a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court. These writ petitions bearing nos. 4433 and 4434 of 1998 were filed respectively by one Vijay Krishna Kumbhar, a journalist and one Nitin Duttatraya Jagtap, a Municipal Corporator of Pune. The petitions pointed out that a particular plot of land bearing Final Plot No. 110 (F.P. No. 110 for short), and admeasuring about 3450 sq. meters, situated on Prabhat Road in the Erandwana area of the city, was initially reserved for a public purpose namely, a garden/playground, and subsequently for a primary school. They further pointed out that a number of years after the Pune Municipal Corporation (hereinafter referred to as PMC) took all the necessary steps to acquire this particular plot of land, the landowner one Dr. Laxmikant Madhav Murudkar appointed M/s Vyas Constructions, a proprietary concern of one Shri Girish Vyas (the appellant in Civil Appeal No.198-199 of 2000) as the developer of the property. Shri Girish Vyas is the son-in-law of Shri Manohar Joshi who was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 14.03.1995 till January 1999.

4. The petitioners contended that only because of the instructions from the Urban Development Department (UDD for short) which was under Shri Manohar Joshi, that in spite of the reservation for a primary school, the plot was permitted to be developed for private residences flouting all norms and mandatory legal provisions. They sought to challenge the