PUKHRAJMAL SAGARMAL LUNKAD (D) THROUGH HIS LRS. AND OTHERS ETC.versusTHE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, JALGAON AND OTHERS

                         [2017] 2 S.C.R. 333



  PUKHRAJMAL SAGARMAL LUNKAD (D) THROUGH HIS                              A
              LRS. AND OTHERS ETC.
                                  v.
    THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, JALGAON AND OTHERS
                    (Civil Appeal No. 491 of2007)                         B
                        FEBRUARY 03, 2017
    [MADAN B. LOKUR AND PRAFULLA C. PANT, JJ.)
         Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 - ss.
88, 126, 127 - Municipal Council, a planning authority under the
Act, published Draft Development Plan in respect of certain lands
                                                                          c
including plots owned by the appellants and reserved them for public
purpose - However, subsequently, Town Planning Scheme on the
said Development Plan relating to the plots in question was prepared
- Plea of appellants that the land reserved was not acquired within
ten years, thus land shall be deemed to be released from reservation,     D
allotment or designation and available back to owner as per s.127
of the Act - High Court dismissed the writ petitions filed by
appellants - On appeal, held: In instant case, the prayer was made
by the appellants in the writ petitions specifically in respect of Town
Planning Scheme - s.127 does not apply to lands reserved for public
                                                                          E
purpose under Town Planning Scheme and as such, there was no
lapsing of reservation of land uls.127 of the Act - Further, from the
order passed by the Arbitrator under Town Planning Scheme Rules,
 it is clear that compensation was determined in respect of land in
question under Town Planning Scheme - No error in judgment
 passed by the High Court - Urban development - Land Acquisition          F
 Act, 1894.
        Word' and Phrases - 'Town Planning' - 'Development Plan'
- "'Scheme"; "Planning" and "Planning Scheme" - Meaning of -
Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 - s.2(9) and
s.2(30).                                                                  G
        Dismissing the appeal, the Court
      HELD: 1.1 The appellants contended that the Town
Planning Scheme was approved by the State Government in
January, 1993, based on a revised Development Plan submitted
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334            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                      [2017) 2 S.C.R.


A     by the Municipal Council in 1988, i.e., after reservation of land in
      question already stood lapsed as the land owners had served the
      notice under Section 127 of MRTP Act and six months period
      had passed thereafter. This contention lacks substance for the
      reason that the land in question was reserved in 1976 under Town
      Planning Scheme III. Development Plans are dealt with under
B
      Chapter III, and Town Planning Schemes are dealt with under
      Chapter V of MRTP Act. Section 126 of the Act which is part of
      Chapter VII, deals with Plans as well as Schemes, but Section
      127 does not refer to Town Planning Schemes. [Paras 10, 13]
      (339-C-D; 340-A-B]
c            1.2 In the present case, the prayer is made by the
      appellants in the Writ Petitions specifically in respect of Town
      Planning Scheme No. III, which was finally sanctioned, as such,
      no error in the impugned judgment passed by the High Court
      dismissing the Writ Petitions. From the copy of special notice
D     issued under Town Planning Scheme Rules and copy of order
      passed by the Arbitrator in the aforesaid rules, it is clear that the
      compensation was determined in respect ofland in question under
      Town Planning Scheme. The decision of the Arbitrator appears
      to have been published in the Official Gazette and appeal was
      dismissed. In the circumstances, no error in the order passed
E     by the High Court. [Para 14] (340-C-E]
             2. The landowners contended that the land is deemed to
      have been released after 6 months of the issue of Notice u/s 127
      of the MRTP Act. The contention cannot be accepted for the
      reason that the decision relied by the landowners to contend that
 F    no steps were taken relates to the 'Development Plan' for which
      the steps for acquisition had to be taken as per Section 126. In
      the present case, before the scheme is implemented, the
      procedure contemplated under Chapter V is followed to finalise
      the scheme. The procedure includes the sanctioning of draft
G     scheme, appointment of arbitrator, issuing notices to persons
      affected by the scheme, determination of compensation by the
      arbitrator and then the final award made by the arbitrator. In
      respect of the land required under Town Planning Scheme except
      the Development Plan, the steps under Section 126 may not
      require to be resorted to at all. It is clear from the record that
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  PUKHRAJMAL SAGARMAL LUNKAD (D) THROUGH HIS                             335
      LRS. v. THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, JALGAON

the Draft Town Planning Scheme was published in 1976, arbitrator         A
determined the compensation iu 1980, the appeal filed before
the Tribunal was dismissed iu 1987 and the scheme was sent to
the Government for sanction in 1988 and it was finally sanctioned
in 1993 by following the procedure under Chapter V which is a
self contained code for the implementation of the Town Planning
                                                                         B
Scheme. [Para 15) [340-E-H; 341-A-B)
       Girnar Traders v. State of Maharashtra and Others
       (2007) 7 SCC 555 : [2007) 9 SCR 383 - referred to.
                       Case Law Reference
[2Q07] 9 SCR 383                referred to                Para 15        c
       CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 491
of2007.
       From the Judgment and Order dated 23.12.2004 of the High
Court of Judicature at Bombay, bench at Aurangabad in Writ Petition
                                                                          D
Nos. 1924 and I 925 of 1992 & Writ Petition No. 1228 of 2001 .
        Ravindra Keshavrao Ad sure, Aj it Babanrao Kale, Anand Landge,
Dr. Kailash Chand, Anish R. Shah, A. Radhakrishnan, Advs. for the
appellants.
       H.P. Raval, Sr. Adv., Shivaji M. Jadhav, Nipun Saxena, Anando      E
Mukherjee, Mahaling Pandarge, Nishant Ramakantrao Katneshwarkar,
Advs. for the respondents.
       The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
        PRAFULLA C. PANT, J. 1. This appeal is directed against
judgment and order dated 23.12.2004, passed by the High Court of          F
Judicature of Bombay, Bench at Aurangabad, whereby said Court has
dismissed the Writ Petition No. 1924 of 1992. And for the reasons
given in the said order, the other two Writ Petition Nos. 1925 of 1992
and 1228of2001 were also dismissed.
        2. In the above Writ Petitions (Nos. 1924 of 1992 and 1925 of     G
1992), Town Planning Scheme in respect of survey No. 431 I A (new plot
No. 287) and survey No. 431/B (new plot No. 288) situated at Mehrun
area within the limits of Municipal Council Jalgaon, was sought to be
quashed.
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336             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                           [201 7] 2 S.C.R.


A             3. Brief facts of the case are that appellants were admittedly
      owners of survey No. 431/A-l, A-2 and A-3 and survey No. 431/B. On
      15.12.1971, Jalgaon Municipal Council which is a Planning Authority
      under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 (for short
      "MRTP Act"), published Draft Development Plan in respect of certain
      lands including the aforementioned plots owned by the appellants and
B
      reserved the same for public purpose, renumbering them as plot No. 288
      in reservation site No. I 07 (for garden) and plot No. 287 reserved in site
      Nos. I 04 and 105 (for the purposes of construction of library, maternity
      home and dispensary). Final Development Plan was sanctioned in
      respect of above area which came into operation on 16.12.1974.
c     According to the appellants, this date is the starting point for taking steps
      for acquisition within a period of ten years under MRTP Act, as the
      owners got restricted/prevented from carrying out any developmental
      activities over their land. It is pleaded by them that the procedure for
      acquisition of the land reserved for public purpose is provided under
      Chapter VII, which allowed at the relevant point of time only two modes
D
      of acquisition under Section 126 (I) of the MRTP Act, namely-(i) by
      agreement, and (ii) by making an application to the State Government
      for acquiring such land under Land Acquisition Act, I 894.
              4. Section 127 of the MRTP Act, provides that if any land
      reserved, allotted or designated for any purpose specified in any plan
E     under the Act, is not acquired by agreement within ten years from the
      date on which the final Regional Plan or final Development Plan came
      into force or if proceedings under Land Acquisition Act, 1894, are not
      commenced within such period, the owner or any person interested in
      the land, may serve notice on the Planning Authority, Development
 F    Authority or Appropriate Authority, as the case may be, and if within six
      months of such notice, the land is not acquired or no steps, as aforesaid,
      are commenced for the acquisition, the reservation, allotment or
      designation shall be deemed to have lapsed, and thereupon the land shall
      be deemed to be released from the reservation, allotment or designation,
      and shall become available to the owner forthe purpose of development
G     as otherwise permissible in the case of adjacent land under the relevant
      plan.
             5. The appellants' case is that on 15.12.1984 ten years stood
      expired from the date coming into operation of final Development Plan,
      and the respondents failed to acquire the land. As such, the original
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  PUKHRAJMAL SAGARMAL LUNKAD (D) THROUGH HIS LRS. v.                             337
  THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, JALGAON [PRAFULLA C. PANT, J.]

appellants/land owners sent a notice under Section 127 of the MRTP               A
Act to the PlanningAuthority, Jalgaon Municipal Council on 7.10.1986,
but even after receipt of such notice, the Municipal Council failed to
take steps for acquisition of the appellants' land reserved for public purpose
within the period of six months, and consequently, the land stood released
from the reservation. But when in spite of repeated representations no
                                                                                 B
orders were passed by the Planning Authority releasing the land, the
appellants filed Writ Petition Nos. 1924 of 1992 and 1925 of 1992 qua
survey Nos. 431/A and 431/B respectively, seeking writ of mandamus
to quash the reservation of the appellants' land for Town Planning
Scheme.
        6. On the other hand, on behalf of the PlanningAuthority/Jalgaon          c
Municipal Council, it is stated that larger area ofland including the land
in question was subsequently reserved on 09.09.1976 for public purposes
under the Town Planning Scheme III, and Sections 126 and 127 ofMRTP
Act have no application in the present case. The scheme started way
back year in 1976 and Arbitrator was appointed under the Act and he               D
passed award on 20.03.1980 and compensation of 1 1,20,000/- for plot
no. 287 (Old No. 431 A) and 1 1,51, 700/- for plot no. 288 (old No. 431 B)
was determined. The appeal to the Tribunal regarding compensation
was dismissed. It is further stated that the land stood vested under Section
88 of the MRTP Act. On behalf of the respondents, it is also pointed out
that advance possession of the land was voluntarily delivered by the              E
appellants to the Municipal Council on 21.2.1981 and compensation
determined by the Arbitrator was deposited. (Appellants have responded
to the above plea by stating that the advance possession was delivered
only in respect of a small strip of land used for twenty feet wide road).
        7. It is not out of context to mention here that the revised              F
Deve)opment Plan for Town Planning Scheme No. III was submitted by
the Municipal Council on 01.03.1988, which the State Government
sanctioned on 06.01.1993 and in said scheme the land in question was
reserved for '.'.civic centre". The State Government approved the said
finalTown Planning Scheme on 29.5.1993/31.5.1993. It has also come                G
on record that at one stage, on the representation of the appellants in the
year 1984, the Municipal Council submitted proposal for deletion ofland
from reservation for development plan, but the same was rejected by
the State Government.
        8. The High Court, after hearing the parties, opined that the            H
338             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                            [2017] 2 S.C.R.


A     Development Plan proposals are executed by the local authority either
      by compulsory land acquisition, or by preparing and executing Town
      Planning Scheme for different parts ofthe town so that when all proposals
      are carried out, there would be harmony and the town is developed in
      planned manner. The High Court further observed that in making a
      Town Planning Scheme the lands of all persons covered by the Scheme
B
      are treated as if they are to be in a pool. The Town Planning Officer
      then proceeds to reconstitute the plots for residential buildings and reserves
      certain lands for public purposes. The reconstituted plots are allotted to
      land owners with change in shape and size. The Arbitrator under the
      MRTP Act lays out new roads, reserves land for recreation grounds,
c     schools, markets, green belts and similar public purposes. The object of
      the Scheme being so to provide amenities and benefit to the residents,
      the area in occupation of individual land holders is reduced. The result
      is that there is shiftingofplotsofland, roads, means ofcommunication.
      As such, the rearrangement of titles in the various plots requires financial
      adjustments to be made and the owners who are deprived of their land
D
      are compensated. The High Court, discussing the provisions of Bombay
      Town Planning Act and that of the MRTP Act, has held that Section 126
      ofMRTP Act providing for acquisition could only be resorted to, in relation
      to the cases covered by exclusionary clause used in Section 88 (a) of
      the Act, and it further held that Section 127 does not apply to lands
E     reserved for public purpose under Town Planning Scheme, and, as such,
      there is no lapsing of reservation of land under Section 127 of the Act,
      and dismissed the writ petitions.
             9. We have examined the matter and considered the rival
      submissions oflearned counsel for the parties.
F              10. Before further discussion, we think it just and proper to look
      into the definitions of'Development Plan' and 'Town Planning Scheme'.
      Section 2(9) of MRTP Act defines the term 'Development Plan' and
      reads as under:
              'Development Plan' means a Plan for the Development or
G             re-development of the area within the jurisdiction of a
              Planning Authority and includes revision of development plan
              and proposals of a Special Planning Authority for
              development of land within its jurisdiction'.
              The expression Town Planning Scheme is not defined in the Act
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  PUKHRAJMAL SAGARMAL LUNKAD (D)THROUGH HlS LRS. v.                              339
  THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, JALGAON [PRAFULLA C. PANT, J.]

but under sub-section 2(30) the word 'Scheme' is defined as:                     A
        'Scheme' includes a plan relating to a Town Planning
        Scheme'.
        According to concise Oxford English Dictionary 'scheme' means
a systematic plan or arrangement for attaining some particular object or
putting a particular idea into effect. In the same dictionary, term 'planning'    B
means planning and control of the construction, growth, and development
of a town or other urban area. As such, we may say that the term
'Planning Scheme' means, a systematic plan with an object of planning
and control of the construction, growth and development ofa town. We
also think it relevant to mention here that Development Plans are dealt           c
with under Chapter lll, and Town Planning Schemes are dealt with under
Chapter V ofMRTP Act. Section 126 of the Act which is part of Chapter
VII, deals with Plans as well as Schemes, but Section I 27 does not refer
to Town Planning Schemes.
        11. Effect of final Town Planning Scheme is provided in Section           D
88 of the MRTP Act which reads (as it existed before 2014), as under:
        "88. Effect of final scheme - On and after the day on which a
        final scheme comes into force-
        (a) all lands required by the Planning Authority shall, unless it is
            otherwise determined in such scheme, vest absolutely in the           E
            Planning Authority free from all encumbrances;
        (b) all rights in the original plots which have been reconstituted
            shall determine, and the reconstituted plots shall become
            subjectto the rights settled by Arbitrator;
                                                                                  F
        (c) the Planning Authority shall hand over possession of the final
            plots to the owners to whom they are allotted in the final
            scheme."
         12. It is stated that draft Development Plan relating to plots in
question was initially published on 15.12.1971 which was sanctioned by
the State Government on 11.04.1974 and finally Development Plan was               G
operationalised on 16.12.1974. But the Town Planning Scheme based
on the said Development Plan relating to the plots in question is stated to
have been prepared on 09.09.1976, and thereafter finalized and sanctioned
on 29.05.1993/31.05.1993.
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340                SUPREME COURT REPORTS                        [2017) 2 S.C.R.


A             13. Learned counsel for the appellants argued that the Town
      Planning Scheme was approved by the State Government in January,
      1993, based on a revised Development Plan submitted by the Municipal
      Council in 1988, i.e., after reservation ofland in question already stood
      lapsed as the land owners had served the notice under Section 127 of
      MRTP Act on 07.10.1986 and six months period had passed thereafter.
B
      This argument on scrutiny lacks substance for the reason that the land in
      question was reserved in 1976 under Town Planning Scheme Ill. We
      have already discussed above that Section 127 does not refer to Town
      ~Janning Schemes.

               14. In the present case the prayer is made by the appellants in
c     the Writ Petitions specifically in respect of Town Planning Scheme No.
      lll, which was finally sanctioned, as such, we find no error in the impugned
      judgment passed by the High Court dismissing the Writ Petitions. From
      the copy of special notice dated 25.04.1980 in form No. 4 issued under
      Town Planning Scheme Rules (filed asAnnexure-B with the additional
D     documents) and copy of order dated 16.05.1980 passed by the Arbitrator
      in the aforesaid rules, it is clear that the compensation was determined
      in respect ofland in question under Town Planning Scheme. The decision
      of the Arbitrator appears to have been published in the Official Gazette
      dated 20th August, 1980, and appeal was dismissed. In the
      circumstances, we find no error in the order passed by the High Court.
E
               I 5. The landowners further relied on the case of Girnar Traders
      Vs. State ofMaliaraslitra and Otliers 1 to contend that the land is deemed
      to have been released after 6 months of the issue of Notice u/s 127 of
      the MRTP Act. The contention of the landowners cannot be accepted
      for the reason that the decision relied by the landowners to contend that
F     no steps were taken relates to the 'Development Plan' for which the
      steps for acquisition had to be taken as per Section 126. In the present
      case, before the scheme is implemented, the procedure contemplated
      under Chapter V is followed to finalise the scheme. The procedure
      includes the sanctioning of draft scheme, appointment of arbitrator, issuing
G     notices to persons affected by the scheme, determination of compensation
      by the arbitrator and then the final award made by the arbitrator. In
      respect of the land required under Town Planning Scheme except the
      Development Plan, the steps under Section 126 may not require to be
      resorted to at all. It is clear from the record that the Draft Town Planning
       1 (2007)   1 sec 555
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 PUKHRAJMALSAGARMAL LUNKAD (D) THROUGH HIS LRS. v.                             341
 THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, JALGAON [PRAFULLA C. PANT, J.]

Scheme was published in 1976, arbitrator determined the compensation            A
in 1980, the appeal filed before the Tribunal was dismissed in 1987 and
the scheme was sent to the Government for sanction in 1988 and it was
finally sanctioned in 1993 by following the procedure under Chapter V
which is a self contained code for the implementation of the Town Planning
Scheme.
                                                                                B
         16. For the reasons as discussed above, we do not find any force
in this appeal. Accordingly, the same is dismissed. No order as to costs.


Ankit Gyan                                                 Appeal dismissed.