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 th