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2026:BHC-A S:45243-DB CNR No : HCBM010261462025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 6215 OF 2025 The Tata Power Company Ltd. & Anr. … Petitioners Versus The State of Maharashtra & Ors. … Respondents ******

Mr. D. J. Khambata, Senior Advocate a/w Mr. Prateek Seksaria, Senior Advocate, Mr. Bhushan Deshmukh, Mr. Venkatesh, Mr. Karan Rukhana, Mr. Rohit Agarwal, Mr. H. N. Vakil, Mr. Samkit Shah, Mr.Farad Vakil, Mr. Ashutosh Srivastava, Mr. Syresth Sharma, Mr.Siddharth Nigotia, Mr. Ashirwad Sapre, Ms. Megha Chandu i/by Mulla and Mulla and Craigie Blunt & Caroe, for the Petitioners.

Mr. Shrihari G. Aney, Special Counsel (through V.C.) a/w Smt. Shruti D. Vyas, Addl. Govt. Pleader and Smt. G. R. Raghuwanshi, AGP, for Respondent Nos.1 to 4-State.

Mr. Chetan Kapadia, Senior Advocate a/w Mr. Yuvraj Singh and Ms.Shraddha Dube Patil i/by Jay & Co. for Respondent No.5-MIDC.

Mr. Anil Anturkar, Senior Advocate a/w Mr. Abhishek Salian, Ms.Srushti Thorat, Mr. Mayuresh Ingale, Ms. Kinnari Raut and Ms.Ayesha Dhorajiwala i/by Vidhi Partners for Respondent No.6.

Mr. Nitin Katore, Law Officer, MIDC, present.

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CORAM : MANISH PITALE AND SHREERAM V. SHIRSAT, JJ.

RESERVED ON : 1^st SEPTEMBER 2026 PRONOUNCED ON : 5^th NOVEMBER 2026 JUDGEMENT (Per Manish Pitale, J.)

. The petitioner-Tata Power Company Limited (TPCL) has filed this writ petition aggrieved by notification issued by respondent-State under the provisions of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Act, 1961 (MID Act), declaring certain portion of the land forming part of Thokarwadi Dam and Reservoir concerned with the existing Bhivpuri Hydro Station of 75 MW and the proposed Bhivpuri Pumped Storage Project of 1000 MW of the petitioner-TPCL in District Pune, as an Industrial area. The declaration of the industrial area covering a part of the said land of the petitioner-TPCL and proposed acquisition of the same is for the benefit of respondent No.6-Maharishi Vedoddharak Foundation (MVF). The said respondent is already allotted about 126 hectares of land adjacent to the water body of the reservoir and by the impugned notification, a further area of about 84 hectares is sought to be allotted, which includes two land outcrops in the reservoir, concerning the said dam.

2. It is the case of the petitioner-TPCL that when the subject land was acquired and handed over to it more than a century ago for the specific public purpose of establishment of the hydro electric project, acquisition of a part of the same solely for the benefit of the respondent No.6-MVF, a private company, amounts to colourable exercise of power. It is alleged that the provisions of the statute for acquisition of land i.e. the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (Act of 2013) have been bypassed by deliberately taking recourse to the provisions of the MID Act and an ingenious ‘pass through’ method of acquisition has been undertaken, solely to benefit the respondent No.6-private company in a mala fide manner, while interfering with the land allotted to the petitioner-TPCL for the public purpose of the said hydro electric project. It is emphasized that the hydro electric station has been functioning for more than a century and recently, a more elaborate pumped storage project of 1000 MW is being established, which will be hampered by the proposed acquisition pursuant to the impugned notification issued by the respondent-State.

3. The respondent-State as well as the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and the respondent No.6- MVF, on the other hand, claim that the portions of land that were allotted to the petitioner-TPCL, that remained unutilized, are sought to be acquired for the purpose of the ‘Ultra Mega Project’ of the respondent No.6-MVF. It is emphasized that the activity proposed to be undertaken by the respondent No.6-MVF is an industrial activity encompassing va