Delay defeats land reservation

The Supreme Court last week set aside the reservation of land for town planning by the Maharashtra government as no follow-up action was taken for 15 years. According to the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act, if any land reserved for any public purpose is not acquired by agreement within 10 years, the owner may serve notice on the planning authority and if still no steps are taken, the land shall be released to the owner. In this case of Jalgaon city plan, there was an inordinate delay and “the owner or person affected cannot be left to hang indefinitely without a decision to follow up the purchase notice by acquisition of the land in question,” the judgment said. The government, however, can keep alive the plan beyond 10 years by issuing a second purchase notice.