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(h) After the Development Plan under the MRTP Act was sanctioned, though the reservation was continued, the purpose of utilization of the land was changed in the 1987 D.P. plan from garden to primary school. Thereafter, when the SLAO gave one more notice to take possession on 1.3.1988, some of the tenants filed another Civil Suit bearing No. 397 of 1988 in the Court of Civil Judge, Senior Division Pune. It was at that stage that the landowner who was a defendant in that suit, applied for transposing himself as a plaintiff which application was allowed on 2.4.1988. The Civil Court having held that the acquisition had lapsed due to the change of purpose of acquisition (from what it originally was in 1966), the PMC filed an Appeal which is pending thereafter.
(j) After the City Engineer, Pune rejected the proposal of the Architect of the landowner for building permission by his reply dated 6.11.1995, the above referred Shri Karandikar straightaway wrote to the Minister of State for UDD on 20.11.1995, and sought a direction to the Municipal Commissioner to consider landowner's application for development of the property. This application was not addressed to the State Government or to the Secretary concerned, but straightaway to the Minister of State for UDD, and did not bear any inward stamp of the department. The noting of the Private Secretary of the Minister of State in UDD in the margin of the application showed that it was directly received at the Minister's level. Thereafter as directed by the Minister of State, the Under Secretary of UDD immediately called a meeting of high ranking officers such as Secretary UDD, Director Town Planning, Commissioner of PMC, City Engineer of PMC, and Under Secretary UDD, which meeting would not have been possible unless one had a clout with the Ministry.

The story for Pune city is not quite different. Since the impugned development permission given by the Municipal Corporation was on the basis of no objection of the Chief Minister dated 21.8.1996, we may refer to the Educational Statistics of Pune city, at that time. As per the Census of India 1991, the population of Pune city was 24,85,014, out of which 17,14,273 were the literate persons which comes to just above 2/3 of the population. The percentage of literacy has gone up thereafter, but still we are far away from achieving full literacy and from the goal of providing quality education and facilities at the primary level.

The conclusions in nutshell and the consequent order

162. In the circumstances we conclude and pass the following order -

(i) We hold that the direction given by the Government of Maharashtra for the deletion of reservation on Final Plot No. 110, at Prabhat Road, Pune, and the consequent Commencement and Occupation certificates issued by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in favour of the developer were in complete subversion of the statutory requirements of the MRTP Act. The development permission was wholly illegal and unjustified.