N.M. JAMDAR, J.

1. The full bench is called upon to answer the following question:-

“Whether the provisions of Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 as regard lapsing of the acquisition apply to the acquisition proceedings initiated in terms of Section 125 to 127 of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act, 1966?”

2. To answer this question, we will have to consider the historical perspective of the land acquisition and the town planning laws. The acquisition of private lands in India is statutorily regulated for almost 150 years. The law has gone through changes from time to time. The long standing land acquisition enactment was replaced by a new law a few years ago. In the erstwhile Bombay region, and now Maharashtra, the laws dealing with town planning are in operation since almost a century. The interplay between the state law governing town planning and the central law dealing with land acquisition has fallen for consideration of the Supreme Court on more than one occasion. A brief outline of the growth and the features of the acquisition laws, the state town planning laws and the decisions of the Apex Court on the issue, is necessary as a prefix to the discussion.

3. The chronological placement of the topics is as follows. First, we will refer to the acquisition laws leading to Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Then the state town planning laws, including the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, amendments to Land Acquisition Act, decisions of the Supreme Court on the applicability of amendments to Land Acquisition Act to the town planning laws, the new acquisition law, that is the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (the RFCTLARR Act), the decision of the division bench of this Court on the applicability of the new acquisition law, amendments to the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, the rules framed by the State Government under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, and the events leading to the present Reference. After noting the rival contentions, we will address the pivotal issue as to whether the law laid down by the Supreme Court in respect of the earlier land acquisition law applies to the new acquisition law in the context of the question posed and whether there is any change in the legal position.

4. The British Government enacted the first land acquisition legislation in India in the year 1824. It was called the Bengal Resolution I of 1824. In the year 1850, the regulation was extended to Calcutta. Subsequently, similar Acts were enacted for Bombay and Madras. Repealing previous enactments the Act of 1857 was brought into force in rest of British India. The subsequent Act X of 1870 was replaced by the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. After the Independence, the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 was adopted by the Indian independence (Adoption of Central Act and Ordinances (order) of 1848. The Land Acquisition Act of 1894 (the L.A. Act) was employed for the purpose of acquisition of private land by the Government for the public purpose.

5. Section 3 of the L.A. Act defined the terms occurring in the Act. Various categories were enumerated under the definition of the “Public Purpose”, Part II of the L.A. Act dealt with the acquisition of land. Whenever it appeared to the appropriate Government that land in any locality was needed or likely to be needed for any public purpose, a notification to that effect was to be published. Section 4 stipulated publication of such preliminary notification. Section 4(1) of the L.A. Act dealt with the manner in which the notification was to be issued. Section 4(2) made it lawful for the authorized officers to enter upon the land pursuant to the notification, make a survey and take ancillary steps. Initially, the L.A. Act did not provide any o