Quick Summary: Mukund Mohan Kurunbhatti and Subodh Motichand Bundelchandi challenged the reservation of their land in Chalisgaon. The court ruled in their favor, declaring the reservation expired.
Mukund Mohan Kurunbhatti, a businessman from Nashik, and Subodh Motichand Bundelchandi from Jalgaon filed a request against the State of Maharashtra and others. They argued that their land in Chalisgaon, reserved for a school and playground, should be freed from reservation.
The land, identified as Survey No. 303/1/1C, was part of a development plan from December 22, 1989, and was reserved as Site No. 41 for a "Play Ground and School." Kurunbhatti bought this land on December 30, 2014, and sent a purchase notice on February 16, 2015, as per Section 127 of the MRTP Act.
"The land shall be considered released from the said reservation."
Despite the purchase notice, no steps were taken to acquire the land within the required 12 months. The updated development plan in April 2016 still showed the land as reserved, but Kurunbhatti argued that his notice came before this plan.
Mukund Mohan Kurunbhatti and Subodh Motichand Bundelchandi: They claimed the reservation expired since no action was taken after the notice. They referred to the case of Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing Company Limited vs. State of Maharashtra to support their argument.
The Municipal Council: The Municipal Council argued that the updated plan extended the reservation period by 10 years. They also claimed the petitioners mentioned the wrong site number in their notice.
The court, led by Judges Vaishali Patil – Jadhav and Nitin B. Suryawanshi, sided with Kurunbhatti. They declared the reservation expired as the Municipal Council failed to act within the required time.
"The land of the petitioner cannot be kept under reservation forever."
The court ordered the State Government to officially announce the end of the reservation in the Official Gazette within six months. Mukund Mohan Kurunbhatti and Subodh Motichand Bundelchandi's land was freed from reservation, marking a significant win for them.
