The court affirmed that if land reservation lapses due to statutory non-compliance, a writ mandating acquisition cannot be issued, especially for unsuitable land.

1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order dated 13.08.2018 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay in Writ Petition No.5310 of 2018 by which the Division Bench of High Court has allowed the said writ petition preferred by the private respondents herein - original writ petitioners and has issued the writ of Mandamus directing the appellants - Kolhapur Municipal Corporation and others to acquire the land in question and to issue a declaration under S.19 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as “Act of 2013”), Kolhapur Municipal Corporation and others have preferred the present Civil Appeal No. 510 of 2022.
1.1 In the aforesaid Writ Petition No.5310 of 2018 after the judgment was delivered on 13.08.2018, the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation preferred one further Civil Application No.2461 of 2018 in Writ Petition No. 5310 of 2018 for appropriate order directing the original writ petitioners to accept the TDR in lieu of monetary compensation, which has been rejected by the High Court by order dated 10.12.2018. The same is the subject matter of the present Civil Appeal No.511 of 2022 preferred by the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation.

2. The facts leading to the present appeal in a nutshell are as under: -
2.1 The dispute is with respect to the land bearing R. S. No. 138, ad - measuring 3 Hectors and 65 Ares, situated at E ward, Near New Palace, Kolhapur owned by the original writ petitioners. The development plan for the City of Kolhapur was sanctioned on 18.12.1999. Different portions of the land in question were reserved in the sanctioned development plan for various public purposes namely, parking, garden, extension of sewage treatment plant etc. That as the land in question was not acquired and / or used for the public purposes for which the same was reserved under the sanctioned development plan, the original writ petitioners - landowners served a notice under S.127 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 (hereinafter referred to as the “MRTP Act”) on 02.01.2012.
2.2 By Resolution dated 18.02.2012, the General Body of the Municipal Corporation resolved to acquire the said property and accordingly on 17.04.2012, a proposal was submitted by the Municipal Corporation to the State Government for compulsory acquisition of the subject property. The District Collector passed an order dated 07/09.07.2012 directing that the proposal for acquisition be transferred to the Special Land Acquisition Officer (11), Kolhapur for necessary action. By the said order, the Corporation was directed to deposit 25% of the amount before publication of the notification under S.4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as “Act of 1894”), 25% of estimated compensation amount before the publication of a declaration under S.6 of the Act of 1894 and remaining 50% of the estimated compensation amount before the declaration of award under S.11 of the Act of 1894.
2.3 That on enactment of the Act of 2013, the came to be repealed. Therefore, the land in question was subjected to the provisions of the Act of 2013. The Special Land Acquisition Officer directed the Corporation to deposit the amount of Rs.77,65,12,000/- towards compensation vide its letter dated 06.10.2015 in order to issue necessary orders as per S.19 of the Act of 2013. It appears that the Corporation was not in a financial position to pay s