Sitaram Ramchandra Bhogle (Since Decd.) Through Lrs. And ORS. v. The Collector And Dy. Director For Rehabilitation, Sindhudurg Dist. And ORS.

Santosh

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 3680 OF 2019 1.

Sitaram Ramchandra Bhogle Since deceased through his legal heir:

Dinesh Sitaram Bhogle, Age : 62 years 2.

Balkrishna Sakharam Phadnaik (Sawant) since deceased through his legal heir : Prakash Balkrishna Sawant 3.

Bajirao Sakharam Patil, Since deceased through his legal heir:

Anil Bajirao Patil 4.

Madhukar Anant Nawale Since deceased through his legal heir:

Ravindra Mandhukar Nawale 5.

Ramesh Sahadeo Sonar (Pokharankar) Since deceased through his legal heir:

Prasad Ramesh Pokharankar 6.

Janardan Vithoba Patil 7.

Sudhakar Shivram Patil 8.

Tukaram Abaji Sawant Since deceased through his legal heir:

Sudhakar Tukaram Sawant 9.

Narayan Ganpat Patil 10.

Digambar Ganpat Patil 11.

Keshav Kundalik Patil 12.

Sitaram Dattaram Patil Since deceased through his legal heir:

Sugandha Sitaram Patil 13.

Ganpat Vishnu Sutar Since deceased through his legal heir:

Shailesh Ganpat Panchal 14.

Ganpat Babu Patil Since deceased through his legal heir:

Dashrath Ganpat Patil 15.

Laxman Sakharam Gaikwad Since deceased through his legal heir:

Ramchandra Laxman Gaikwad 16.

Shankar Sakharam Gaikwad Since deceased through his legal heir:

Ravindra Shankar Gaikwad 1/9

17.

Ladoba Sitaram Patil Since deceased through legal heir:

Vasudeo Ladoba Patil 18.

Soma Sakharam Gaikwad Nos.1 to 18 all Adults, all residing at Kurli, Taluka Vaibhavwadi, District Sindhudurg 19.

Ganpat Vishnu Sutar Since deceased through his legal heir:

Manasi Manoj Panchal 20.

Mohan Vishram Chavan 21.

Smt. Vaishali Santosh Chavan 22.

Shantaram Sakharam Gaikwad 23.

Sahadeo Sitaram Gaikwad 24.

Ragho Ramchandra Patil Since deceased through his legal heir:

Maruti Ramchandra Patil 25.

Mohan Balkrishna Patil 26.

Shripat Babu Patil Since deceased through his legal heir:

Satyawan Shripat Patil 27.

Tukaram Gopal Kadam Since deceased through his legal heir:

Vikas Tukaram Kadam 28.

Yashwant Ramchandra Powar Since deceased through his legal heir:

Namdeo Yashwant Powar 29.

Manohar Shankar Teli Nos.19 to 29 all adults and all are residing at Kurli, Taluka Kanakavali, District Sindhudurg 30.

Mahadev Kundlik Margaj Since deceased through his legal heir:

Vasudeo Kundlik Margaj 31.

Waman Balaram Chavan 32.

Madan Gunadhar Nagaonkar 33.

Motiram Gopal Teli 34.

Umaji Laxman Powar since deceased through his legal heir:

Surendra Umaji Powar residing at Navin Kurli Vasahat Phondaghat, Taluka Kanakavali, District Sindhudurg 2/9

35.

Shalini Anant Pilankar Since deceased through her legal heir:

Ankush Anant Pilankar Residing at Navin Kurli Vasahat Phondaghat, Taluka Kankavali, District Sindhudurg 36.

Manohar Dattaram Kadam Residing at Navin Kurli Vasahat Phondaghat, Taluka Kankavali, District Sindhudurg 37.

Sahadev Bhiva Bhatade (Dalvi) Since deceased through his legal heir:

(a) Prakash Sahadev Bhatade (Dalvi) (b) Ankush Sahadev Bhatade Residing at Navin Kurli Vasahat Phondaghat, Taluka Kankavali, District Sindhudurg.

38.

Rajendra Bhagwan Kolte 39.

Bhagwan Tukaram Kolte 40.

Maruti Tukaram Kolte, Since deceased through his legal heir:

Smt. Nirmala Maruti Kolte 41.

Bhiku Ragho Chambhar Since deceased through his legal heir:

Kundalik Bhikaji Chavan (Chambhar) 42.

Ramchandra Ragho Parte Since deceased through his legal heir:

Pandurang Ramchandra Parte 43.

Dhondu Gopal Chavan Since deceased through his legal heir:

Arun Dhondu Chavan 44.

Shivram Hari Powar 45.

Chandrakant Ramchandra Sawant Since deceased through his legal heir:

Smt. Rohini Chandrakant Sawant 46.

Savalaram Keshav Chavan Since deceased through his legal heir:

(A) Radhabai Sawalaram Chavan (B) Nana Keshav Chavan (C) Pandurang Vishnu Chavan 47.

Maruti Ramchandra Teli Since deceased through his legal heir:

Bhagwan Maruti Teli 48.

Kashiram Sakharam Rane 3/9

49.

Pandurang Shankar Gorule Since deceased through his legal heir:

Sahadev Gorule 50.

Krishna Narayan Parab Nos.30 to 50 all adults and all are Residing at Navin Kurli Vasahat Phondagaht, Taluka Kanakavali, District Sindhudurg 51.

Vinod Baliram Patil Since deceased through his legal heir:

Sameer Vinod Patil 52.

Shivram Nana Patil Since deceased through his legal heir:

Arun Shivram Patil 53.

Vishnu Vithoba Kadam Since deceased through his legal heir:

Suryakant Vishnu Kadam 54.

Laxmibai Sitaram Bhogle Since deceased through his legal heir:

Dinesh Sitaram Bhogle 55.

Gangaram Rama Bhogle Since deceased through his legal heir:

Dinesh Sitaram Bhogle 56.

Atmaram Narayan Patil Since deceased through his legal heir:

Vilas Atmaram Patil 57.

Parshuram Shivram Patil Since deceased through his legal heir:

Arvind Parshuram Patil 58.

Deepchand Dattaram Kadam Nos.51 to 58 all adults, all are residing at Kurli, Taluka Vaibhavwadi, District Sindhudurg 59.

Smt. Pramodini Prabhakar Talekar Adult, residing at Kurli, Taluka Vaibhavwadi, Dist. Sindhudurg 60.

Dashrath Mahadeo Sutar Adult, residing at Kurli, Tal.

Vaibhavwadi, Dist. Sindhudurg 61.

Mahadeo Ramchandra Sutar Since deceased through his legal heir Govind Mahadeo Sutar Residing at Kurli, Tal. Vaibhavwadi, Dist ­ Sindhudurg 4/9

62.

Jiji Tukaram Patil Since deceased through his heir Prakash Jiji Patil residing at Kurli, Tal. Vaibhavwadi District ­ Sindhudurg 63.

Narayan Sakharam Chambhar (Chavan) Since deceased his legal heir Eknath Narayan Chambhar (Chavan) Residing at Kurli, Taluka Vaibhavwadi Dist. Sndhudurg

...Petitioners

Versus

1.

The Collector and Deputy Director for Rehabilitation, Sindhudurg Distrct, having its office at Oros, District Sindhudurg 2.

Deputy Collector (Rehabilitation) District Sindhudurg 3.

The State of Maharashtra Through its Department of Rehabilitation, Mantralaya, Mumbai 400 032.

...Respondents

Mr. P. D. Dalvi, for the Petitioners.

Mrs. P. N. Diwan, AGP for the Respondents/State.

CORAM:

R. M. BORDE & N. J. JAMADAR, JJ DATED:

22nd APRIL, 2019 ORAL JUDGMENT:­ (Per R. M. BORDE, J.) 1.

Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With the consent of the Counsels for the parties heard finally.

2.

The Petitioners are the Project Affected Persons and are calling in question the order passed by the Deputy Collector, Rehabilitation, Sindhudurg, dated 28th May, 2017, rejecting the respective claims of the Petitioners for grant of alternate land 5/9

towards the rehabilitation benefits. The application tendered by the respective Petitioners claiming allotment of land in accordance with the provisions of the Maharashtra Project Affected Persons Rehabilitation Act, 1999 are rejected on the ground that the respective Petitioners have not deposited the amount to the extent of 65% of the awarded amount with the State Government within 45 days from the date of the disbursement of the amount of compensation. It is the contention of the Petitioners that they have not been served with the notices as contemplated by Section 16(2)(a) of the Maharashtra Project Affected Persons Act, 1999 calling upon them to deposit 65% amount. It is further contended that since the notices have not been issued by the rehabilitation authority, the limitation should not commence to run from the date of the amount of compensation received and the period of limitation shall have to be computed from the date of issuance of notice as provided under Section 16(2)(a) of the Act of 1999. 3.

We have perused the order impugned in this petition passed by the Deputy Collector, Rehabilitation, dated 28th May, 2017. The order does not refer to issuance of notices within contemplation of Section 16(2)(a) of the Act of 1999. The Petitioners specifically contend that they have not received 6/9

notices from the District Rehabilitation Officer calling upon them to deposit the amount. In these circumstances, it is not open for the Respondent - Rehabilitation Officer to reject the claim of the Petitioners on the ground that they have failed to deposit the amount. In this context, reliance was placed on the judgment delivered in identical matter, Writ Petition No.259 of 2012 (Ganpat Baju Pombale vs. State of Maharashtra & ors.) and other connected matters, dated 17th July, 2012, as well as the judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in the case of Ram Shankar Deshmukh and ors. vs. State of Maharashtra and others in Writ Petition No.8385 of 2010, decided on 2nd May, 2011. Considering the observations made by the Division Bench of this Court in the matter of Ram Deshmukh, the instant petition also deserves to be allowed and appropriate directions need to be issued to the Collector / District Rehabilitation Officer directing him to enquire into the claims of the Petitioners and to pass appropriate orders. Hence, we pass the following order:

(a) The Collector and the Deputy Director for Rehabilitation of Sindhudurg District shall verify as to whether the notices within the contemplation of Section 16(2)(a) of the Maharashtra Project Affected 7/9

Persons Rehabilitation Act, 1999, were issued to the Petitioners directing them to deposit the amount to the extent of 65% of the awarded amount and if there is failure to issue such notices, the Collector and District Rehabilitation Officer shall ensure service of notices by Registered Post A. D. on each of the Petitioner within three months from today.

(b) The Petitioners shall be called upon to deposit the amount within contemplation of the provisions of the Act of 1999 within the time stipulated in the notices and on deposit of the amount, the Collector shall take steps for allotment of alternate land considering the entitlement of each of the Petitioner.

(c) The process of determination of entitlement of each of the Petitioner for allotment of alternate land and issuance of the orders in that regard shall be completed as expeditiously as possible, preferably within six months from today. (d) The orders impugned in this petition are quashed and set aside.

8/9

4.

Rule is made absolute in above terms. There shall be no order as to costs.

[N. J. JAMADAR, J.] [R. M. BORDE, J.] 9/9