Acquisition Of 40 Acres Lapses As Maharashtra Govt Fails To Complete Proceedings In Almost 30 Years [Read Judgment]

The Bombay High Court recently allowed a petition filed by a public charitable trust called FE Dinshaw Trust and held that acquisition of land measuring almost 41 acres or 1,65,602 square metres had lapsed as the state government failed to complete acquisition in nearly three decades.A bench of Justice AS Oka and Justice Riyaz Chagla directed the state government to publish and notify the. The Bombay High Court recently allowed a petition filed by a public charitable trust called FE Dinshaw Trust and held that acquisition of land measuring almost 41 acres or 1,65,602 square metres had lapsed as the state government failed to complete acquisition in nearly three decades. After the enactment of the Maharashtra Private Forests Act, the larger property came to be vested with the state government and acquisition proceedings were rendered unnecessary but the petitioner trust challenged the validity of the Forests Act before the court and it was unanimously agreed upon that the larger property will not come under the Forests Act. The petitioner trust finally served a purchase notice dated September 2011 under Section 127 of the MRTP Act requesting the BMC to either de-reserve the land or acquire it within 12 months.