ORAL JUDGMENT (Per Dabholkar, J.)

1. By this writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, petitioner seeks a declaration that the reservation on the land of petitioner has lapsed i.e. the land is dereserved and also directions to respondents to take necessary steps for dereservation of the land in its records so as to enable petitioner to develop the land for the purpose permissible in the case of adjacent land under the relevant plan.

2. Heard respective counsel.

3. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith by mutual consent and the matter is heard for final disposal.

4. The factual matrix necessary for the purpose of adjudication of writ petition can be narrated as follows. Petitioner is owner of Gut No.44 of Shirasgaon, which is now part and parcel of Municipal limits of Shrirampur Municipal Council, Dist. Ahmednagar. An area admeasuring 5536 Sq.Mtrs. is reserved for playground according to development plan. The draft development plan submitted by Municipal Council to the Government was sanctioned by the State on 9.8.1991 and published in the Government gazette on 5.9.1991. . Because the State or Municipal Council did not take any steps for acquiring the reserved plot for 10 years (which ended on 4.9.2001), petitioner issued a purchase notice u/s 127 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 (MRTP Act for the sake of brevity) on 27.6.2003. Admittedly, the notice was served on Municipal Council on 30.6.2003. Petitioner has approached this Court by contending that inspite of lapse of six months (as on 29.12.2003) since no steps of acquisition are taken by Municipal Council or the State, the statutory effect of lapsing of reservation as contemplated by Section 127 of MRTP Act has occurred and petitioner is claiming a declaration to that effect. . Reply is filed on behalf of respondent no.5 and the steps taken by respondent no.5 as indicated in the said reply, can be stated to be as follows. . Notice was received by Municipal Council on 30.6.2003. It passed a resolution on 30.8.2003 for initiation of land acquisition proceedings of petitioner’s plot. It was only on 24.12.2003, Municipal Council had submitted a proposal to Collector, Ahmednagar, for initiation of land acquisition proceedings. There was some back reference with queries by Collector to Municipal Council and Municipal Council resubmitted the matter with compliance on 25.1.2007. The Collector, after being satisfied by the compliance, has issued orders u/s 52-A of the Land Acquisition Act read with Section 126 of MRTP Act. As can be seen from Exhibit 2, annexed to reply, it appears that the Collector, Ahmednagar, has, in exercise of powers u/s 52-A of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, has delegated all his powers under the said provision to Sub Divisional Officer, Shrirampur Division, to perform all the duties of Collector and to take all necessary steps for the purpose of acquisition of the plot as required for primary school and playground. . During the course of his submissions, learned AGP, as per oral instructions taken, had fairly conceded that so far notification u/s 6 of the Land Acquisition Act is not issued.

5. Advocate Shri Hon for Municipal Council has placed reliance upon para 11 from the judgment of the Apex Court in the matter of Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay V/s Dr. Hakimwadi Tenants Association & others (AIR 1988 SC, 233) to following effect: "It cannot be doubted that a period of 10 years is long enough. The Development or the Planning Authority must take recourse to acquisition with some amount of promptitude in order that the compensation paid to the expropriated owner bears a just relation to the real value of the land as otherwise the compensation paid for the acquisition would be wholly illusory. Such fetter on statutory powers is in the interest of the general public and the conditions subject to which they can be exercised must be strictly followed. . As against this, Shri A.B. Kale has placed relianc

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