Nagpur – The Maharashtra High Court has issued a contempt notice to Aseem Gupta, Principal Secretary of the Urban Development (UD) Department, along with other concerned officials, for failing to comply with a court directive to issue a notification regarding reserved land acquisition. The notice was issued in response to a contempt petition filed by Ashok Thakur.
On March 17, 2025, the High Court had directed the state government to publish a notification within four weeks concerning land reserved for public purposes in Datala village, Chandrapur district. However, the state failed to issue the notification within the stipulated timeframe, prompting the filing of the contempt petition.
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15 May 2025
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In a detailed hearing on the original writ petition, the High Court noted that there was no dispute regarding the land in question – Survey No. 215/1/43, measuring 51.65.97 hectares in Datala village, Chandrapur. This land had been reserved in the Regional Development Plan dated September 1, 1998, for the construction of a hospital and vegetable market.
Despite this, no steps were taken by the administration to acquire the land. Consequently, a formal notice was served on December 31, 2020, under Section 127 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966. The administration did not contest the notice but also failed to take any action.
During the hearing, the state’s counsel argued that a proposal had been sent to the government to allocate necessary funds for land acquisition, but no final decision had been made so far.
High Court’s Observations and Directive
The Court observed that since the statutory notice period had lapsed without any action, the development plan reservations numbered 146 and 147 on the said land were deemed to have lapsed.
In light of this, the Court had previously directed the state government to issue the required notification within four weeks. However, the notification was never issued.
Due to this non-compliance, the High Court has now issued contempt notices to Principal Secretary Aseem Gupta and other involved officials, asking them to file a response explaining why contempt proceedings should not be initiated.
