The main legal point established in the judgment is that land must be acquired under Section 14 of the PAP Act before it can be granted to an eligible affected person under Section 16(1)(a), and the want of acquisition or purchase under Section 14 undermines the power of the Collector to grant the land to any affected person.

S.C. Gupte, J.

Heard learned counsel for the parties and the learned A.G.P. for the State.

2. Rule. Taken up for hearing forthwith by consent of counsel.

3. The petitioner challenges an order passed by the District Rehabilitation Officer ("D.R.O.") purportedly under Section 16(1)(a) of the Maharashtra Project Affected Persons Rehabilitation Act, 1999 ("PPA Act"). The application before the D.R.O. was for grant of land to respondent No. 3, who was a project affected person, whilst the petitioner herein, who was a landowner in the benefited zone, was an objector before the D.R.O. The impugned order rejects his objections and proceeds in the matter of deciding the price at which the land is to be compulsorily purchased. This order was followed by an order passed on 25th July, 2014, by which the price of the land to be allotted to the eligible affected person was fixed at Rs. 5,75,716/. The challenge is mainly on the ground that the D.R.O. has proceeded to reject the petitioner's objections and determine the price of the land to be allotted to respondent No. 3 (the eligible affected person) without there being any acquisition under Section 14 of the PPA Act read with the provisions of Land Acquisition Act ("LA Act").

4. Shortly stated, the facts of the case are as follows:

The petitioner claims to be the owner and in possession of Field Survey No. 581/4 ad measuring 2 Hectors 61 R of Mouje Ralegaon Part 2, Taluka Ralegaon, District Yavatmal. This field along with the other field held by the petitioner ad measures a total area of about 4 Hectors 1 R. (The two fields originally had a total area of 6 Hectors 42 R, out of which 1 Hector 27 R was sold by the petitioner.) These fields come under the benefited zone of the Bembla Project. It is the grievance of the petitioner that the D.R.O. by publishing a notice dated 8th May, 2014 declared that the land ad measuring 2 Hectors and 61 R forming part of the petitioner's fields, required for the purpose of rehabilitation under the provisions of Section 14(1) and (2) of the PAP Act, was to be allotted to respondent No. 3, who is an affected person in the same project. The notice indicated that respondent No. 3 had offered to purchase the said land at its market value, stated to be Rs. 4,36,000/. The petitioner submitted his objections to this declaration. The petitioner was thereafter called for a hearing and heard by the D.R.O. One of the main contentions of the petitioner before the D.R.O. was that the land was yet to be acquired or purchased by the Collector under Section 14 of the PAP Act and accordingly, there was no question of grant of this land to any affected person under Section 16(1)(a) of the PAP Act. By his order 15th July, 2014, the D.R.O. rejected all objections of the petitioner. The D.R.O. accepted the fact that the land was yet to be acquired or purchased under Section 14 of the PAP Act. The D.R.O., however, treated this defect as merely cosmetic in nature and a matter of oversight. The D.R.O., thereafter, proceeded by a separate order passed on 25th July, 2014 to fix the market price of the subject land at Rs. 5,75,716/, requiring respondent No. 3 as eligible affected person to deposit that amount. These orders are challenged in the present petition.

5. The scheme of the PAP Act makes it clear that in respect of a project to which the PAP Act applies, the Commissioner of the revenue division, in which entire or major part of the project lies, shall by notification specify the village, or areas, if any, which are likely to be affected or benefited by the project. After the village, or areas, as the case may be, are notified, there are restrictions on their transfer. These restrictions are contained in Section 12 of the PAP Act. The restrictions inter alia prohibit transfers of the lands in the benefited zone in the particular village or area, as the case may be, except with the permission of the Commissioner. Under Section 13 of the PAP Act, as soon as may be practicab