IMPORTANT POINT
The court established that under Sec. 127 of the MRTP Act, a land reservation lapses if the planning authority fails to initiate acquisition proceedings within the specified time after a purchase notice is served, reinforcing the principles of fairness and equal treatment in administrative actions.

JUDGMENT/ORDER

SUNIL B.SHUKRE, J. - Rule. Heard finally by consent of the learned counsel for the parties.

2. The petitioner, a Company duly incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, has filed this petition seeking declaration that the reservation in the Development Plan for City of Nagpur for Primary School, bearing Reservation Nos.MN 92 and N 139, admeasuring about 4907 sq.mtrs. and 11037 sq.mtrs. respectively, out of Survey Nos.2-3/1 and 2-3/4 of Mouza Chikhli (Deosthan), Tahsil and District Nagpur, has lapsed under Sec. 127 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 (for short "MRTP Act") and the petitioner- Company is free to develop the land belonging to it in accordance with law. It has also prayed for issuance of Notification under Sec. 127(2) of the MRTP Act for lapsing of the reservation under Sec. 127 of the MRTP Act.

3. The factual canvass of the petition, presented in it's minimalist form, is as under :

(a) The petitioner claims to be the owner of two parcels of land, admeasuring 4907 sq.mtrs. and 11037 sq.mtrs., out of Survey Nos.2-3/1 and 2-3/4 of Mouza Chikhli, District Nagpur, which have been subjected to reservation for Primary School in the revised Development Plan framed for the City of Nagpur. These parcels of land, which are the subject-matter of the petition, originally formed part of a larger piece of land, admeasuring about 45.42 acres (1, 83, 643 sq.mtrs.) of Survey Nos. 2-3/1 and 2-3/4 of Mouza Chikhli, District Nagpur, owned by Shri Nathuji s/o Namdeo Rokde and late Shri Jagannath s/o Namdeo Rokde, the predecessors-in-title of the petitioner insofar as the subject pieces of land are concerned. Some other portions of the said land were also subjected to reservation for various public purposes, as defined under Sec. 22 of the MRTP Act, way back in the year 1976. The details of all these reservations are to be found in the chart given below:-

(b) The proceedings under the provisions of the Urban Land (Ceiling Regulation ) Act, 1976 (for short "ULC Act") were initiated in respect of the said larger land and the entire land belonging to Rokde brothers was declared as vacant land in excess of ceiling limit under the ULC Act. However, the Competent Authority also exempted the entire land admeasuring about 183646 sq.mtrs., from the provisions of the ULC Act, under Sec. 20 of the ULC Act, for construction of houses for weaker Sec. of the Society on various terms and conditions by it's order dtd. 27/3/1986. One of the conditions thereof, condition No.5, required the owners to hand over the portions of the exempted land subject to reservation, free of cost to the Planing Authority.

(c) Following exemption of the entire land admeasuring about 183646 sq. mtrs. under Sec. 20 of the ULC Act, a layout plan for the entire land was submitted to the Nagpur Improvement Trust ("NIT" for short), which was the then Planning Authority, and it was sanctioned by the NIT, which sanction included the lands reserved for public purposes in the Development Plan and also the land retainable by the owners as per the provisions of the ULC Act. The NIT also entered into an agreement dtd. 4/7/1991 with Rokde brothers wherein clauses 9 and 9A, consistent with condition No.5 of the exemption order dtd. 27/3/1986 were inserted, which meant that Rokde brothers had to hand over the land reserved for public purposes in the Development Plan to the Government or the Planning Authority, as the case may be, free of cost.

(d) Rokde Brothers, the original owners, felt that there was a mistake in the exemption order dtd. 27/3/1986, as portions of the land reserved for public purposes could not have been declared as vacant land in excess of ceiling limit in view of definition of the expression "vacant land" given in Sec. 2(q) of the ULC Act, as these lands could not have been developed for providing houses to the weaker Sec. of the Society. They also felt that the portion of the land retainable by them was also required t