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The said Board also hereby agrees that the compensation as may be fixed by the Government of Maharashtra, M.R.T.P. Act would be payable by the Board of the Government of Maharashtra."

[Emphasis Supplied]

8. Therefore, the Possession Receipt evidences that the MSEB had moved the State to notify the Subject Land for acquisition under Section 128 and Section 129 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act of 1966 ("MRTP Act"). The Possession Receipt records that "pending finalization of the acquisition formalities and procedure ", the Executive January [5], 2024 Shraddha Talekar, PS WP-1430-2022-J.doc Engineer of MSEB had taken over the Subject Land from Respondent No.2 to enable MSEB to commence work and to protect against probable encroachments (a position consistent with the stated abutment of slums and absence of demarcation).

9. The material on record also contains a letter dated 6 th September, 1983, from Respondent No. 2, annexing a draft Possession Receipt responding to a letter from MSEB dated 1 st September, 1983. The said letter sought approval of the draft Possession Receipt before actual possession is handed over. In the said letter, Respondent No. 2 has enquired whether the Collector, Thane had been moved by MSEB for acquisition of the Subject Land. The final Possession Receipt dated 19 th April, 1984 appears to be a culmination of the said engagement between MSEB and Respondent No. 2, by which the MSEB had recorded that acquisition procedure under Section 128 and Section 129 of the MRTP Act would be followed later.

(ii) That factual disputes are involved, placing the Petitioner's prayers outside the scope of adjudication in a Writ Petition. MSEDCL has sought to suggest that perhaps possession of the Subject Land had been taken by MSEDCL from the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority ("MHADA"). The means of bringing in this suggestion is by bringing on record a letter dated 4 th November, 1992 written by the Assistant Engineer, Civil Sub-Dn, MSEB, Thane to the Thane Municipal Corporation (" TMC"), copying various executive engineers of MSEB in Kalyan, Wagle Estate, Thane and Bhandup. The said letter seeks permission of the TMC to construct a sub-station "at Panchpakadi, MHADA, Thana", in which it has stated that MSEB has "taken a plot admeasuring area 2505.60 sqm" from MHADA. Thus, MSEDCL seeks to speculate that potentially MHADA may have played a role in acquisition and then handed over the Subject Land to MSEDCL.

41. However, evidently, the very area of the land referred to in the correspondence is completely dissimilar to the Subject Land. MSEDCL submitted that this letter, dated 4 th November, 1992, unearthed by it, would show that land admeasuring 2505.60 sq. mtrs. had been handed over by MHADA to MSEB, suggesting that perhaps MHADA may have acquired the Subject Land in compliance with due process of law, and then handed it over to MSEDCL. We have considered the letter dated 4 th November, 1992 from MSEB to the TMC seeking approval to build a proposed Sub-Station in Panchpakhadi Village on MHADA land. Not only is the area of land indicated materially different (2505.60 sq. mtrs. as opposed to the 9700 sq. mtrs. indicated in the Possession Receipt) but also the said letter indicates that the plot of land in question was in the portion of land being developed by MHADA in Panchpakadi Village. The said letter does not have any whisper of a reference to the land falling within Survey No. 432(P), on which, admittedly, the Sub-Station relevant to these proceedings now stands. Besides, the letter dated 20 th November, 1986 indicates that MSEB had already constructed on the Subject Land whereas the letter of 4 th November, 1992 requests permission of the TMC to construct a sub-station - clearly, the letter from the MSEB to the TMC cannot relate to the Sub-Station constructed on the January [5], 2024 Shraddha Talekar, PS WP-1430-2022-J.doc Subject Land. The very same letter indicates that there is a heavy demand for power supply in the region and therefore indicates a sense of urgency to TMC.