MUMBAI, SEPT 14: Yet another piece of land acquired for setting up a public amenity seems to have been lost to rampant encroachments in Mumbai. On Friday, a division bench of Justice M B Ghodeswar and Justice S Radhakrishnan of the Bombay High Court directed that a responsible officer of the Urban Development department be present to tell the court if the state were willing to deacquire 2,030.70 sq metres of land in Vile Parle (W) or undertake to clear it of its encroachments.Earlier, two weeks back, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had withdrawn from acquiring land reserved for a market place because of encroachments.
The directions were given in a notice of motion filed by Nikita Developers and others. Though the land was acquired by the state to set up a telecom service centre for Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), no compensation was paid to the owners of city survey Nos. 1529, 1533, 1534, 1569, 1570 and 1571, all admeasuring 2,030.70 sq mtrs.
The petitioners said they wanted to developthe land since the compensation of Rs 1,49,16,825 (Rs 1.49 crore) were not paid to them, though the acquisition of the land took place in 1995, through a notification issued under section 126 of the Land Acquisition Act on January 19, 1995.
The MTNL countered that the land which was almost unencroached at the time of the notification soon filled up after the notification was declared. Argued counsel of the Union of India, S R Rajguru, even access to the plot is blocked with encroachments at present.
``The ultimate decision whether to evict the encroachers or deacquire the land is yet to be taken by the state,'' said Rajguru. Assistant government pleader Abhay Patki defended the state, saying once the award was declared, it was MTNL's responsibility to protect its land. Justice Ghodeswar remarked that it was the responsibility of both MTNL and the state. Patki then stated that the state won't initiate the process to deacquire the land once MTNL communicates its decision not to take the land.
NikitaDevelopers had first filed a writ petition in July `98 offering to develop the land at their own cost and hand over the telecom service centre on 309.81 square metres ie. 15 per cent of the land, as per the Development Control Rules. The division bench of Justice Variava and Justice V R Datar had then directed MTNL to convey within three months its decision to deacquire or acquire the land.
However, since the vacant land area was reduced to 350 sq mtrs by October `98, MTNL decided not to acquire it. The matter is now expected to come up next Friday.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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