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The Bombay High Court has nullified the Maharashtra government's acquisition of 217 acres in Thane as private forest, ruling that procedural requirements were not followed. The notice for acquisition was neither served on the actual landowner, D Dayabhai and Co Pvt Ltd, nor signed by an authorised officer, violating the Private Forests (Acquisition) Act, 1975. The court cited the Supreme Court's Godrej & Boyce judgment, highlighting that proper notice and opportunity to be heard are mandatory. Authorities were directed to restore the land to its original status, rejecting claims based solely on revenue records.
The Bombay High Court has recently ruled that 217 acres of land in Manpada, Thane, could not be classified as private forest, dismissing the Maharashtra government's challenge to a 2017 revenue tribunal order that had set aside the state's acquisition of the property. The dispute over the land, owned by D Dayabhai and Co Pvt Ltd, dates back around 50 years. The court observed that the state had failed to serve a notice to the actual landowner before acquiring the land, a key requirement under the Maharashtra Private Forests (Acquisition) Act, 1975. Advertisement
The court referred to the Supreme Court's judgment in the Godrej & Boyce case, which established that any acquisition under the private forest law requires proper service of notice to the landowner. In this Thane case, the notice had been signed only by a forest guard instead of an authorised officer and was served on an incorrect entity, rather than the legitimate owner, D Dayabhai and Co Pvt Ltd. Justices R V Ghuge and Ashwin Bhobe highlighted that such procedural lapses rendered the acquisition invalid.
The land, originally earmarked by the Thane Municipal Corporation for public purposes including a bus depot, fire station, maternity home, park, school, and road, was also later included in a twin-tunnel infrastructure project. The petitioners contended that the land was never legally acquired as forest land and that the authorities had not followed due process under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, and the 1975 Private Forests Act.
The court rejected the state's argument that the land automatically became forest land because it appeared as such in government records. It stressed that strict adherence to statutory provisions was necessary, and that the title of the landowner could not be nullified without following the law. As a result, the high court quashed the notice and directed that the land be restored to its original status.
In a related ruling, the court also dismissed petitions by Nusli Wadia and two firms challenging a 2022 unilateral deemed conveyance of a four-acre property on Link Road in Malad (West) to a cooperative society. The bench noted that transferring only the structure while retaining land ownership contradicted the legal framework.
The judgment reinforces the importance of following procedural safeguards in land acquisition, particularly for land classified as forest, and underscores that reliance on revenue records alone cannot override statutory requirements.
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