JUDGMENT (PER G. S. KULKARNI, J.)

1. Rule returnable forthwith. Respondents waive service. Heard finally by consent of the parties.

2. This petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India essentially challenges the acquisition of the petitioner’s land being property bearing CTS No.176(part) and CTS No.184 admeasuring 721.1 sq.meters and 791.7 sq.meters respectively situated at Village Goregaon (East), Mumbai (for short ‘the said land”) under the provisions of Section 14 (1) of the the Maharashtra Slum. Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971 (for short ‘the Slum Act’), being arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional.

3. The primary challenge as urged on behalf of the petitioner is that the land is admittedly private land on which there were hutments and which came to be declared as ‘Slum Rehabilitation Area’ under the provisions of Section 3C (1) of the Slum Act. The petitioner contends that the same could not have been acquired without recognizing the preferential rights of the petitioner as owner of the said land, to undertake redevelopment and rehabilitation of the slum tenements. In such context, it is the petitioner’s case that merely because the societ