- (1.) Whether the provisions of Section 24 (2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as "the RFCTLARR Act" for the sake of brevity) would apply to the acquisition of the lands under the provisions of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 (hereinafter referred to as "the MRTP Act") is the question that falls for consideration in these writ petitions.
(2.) The facts giving rise to the question are stated thus- The land of the petitioners in Writ Petition No. 440 of 2014 was acquired under the provisions of the MRTP Act by an Award dated 18.09.2013. According to the petitioners, though the Award was passed by the Special Land Acquisition Officer on 18.09.2013, the majority landholders have not received the compensation and, hence, in view of the provisions of the proviso to Section 24 of the RFCTLARR Act, the petitioners would be entitled to compensation as per the provisions of the RFCTLARR Act. The land of the petitioner-Society in Writ Petition No. 6928 of 2014 was acquired under the provisions of the MRTP Act by the Award dated 29.01.2008 and since the petitioner-Society is still in possession of the acquired land, the petitioner-Society has sought a declaration that the land acquisition proceedings have lapsed under the provisions of Section 24(2) of the RFCTLARR Act.
(3.) It is submitted on behalf of the petitioners in Writ Petition No. 440 of 2014 that all the provisions of the RFCTLARR Act would apply to the acquisitions under the MRTP Act. According to the petitioners, since none of the land holders were paid compensation in terms of the Award dated 08.09.2013, in view of the provisions of the proviso to Section 24 of the RFCTLARR Act, the petitioners would be entitled to compensation as per the provisions of the RFCTLARR Act. The learned counsel for the petitioners in Writ Petition No. 440 of 2014 has relied on paragraph 191 of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, (Girnar Traders(3) v. State of Maharashtra and others, 2011 3 SCC 1) to canvass that the provisions in regard to acquisition of land and payment of compensation under the RFCTLARR Act could be read into the acquisitions controlled by the provisions of the MRTP Act.;