Supreme Court issues notice in appeal challenging permission given for Lavasa Lake City project

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice in an appeal against a Bombay High Court judgment which refused to interfere in petitions challenging the permission granted to Lavasa Corporation Limited to purchase lands for the Lavasa Hill Station project.

The Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna issued notice in the appeal against the Bombay High Court verdict passed in February this year.

Before the High Court, the petitioners - Nanasaheb Vasantrao Jadhav and others - had contended that the permission given to Lavasa Corporation for developing the project was totally illegal and void ab initio because of undue political favouritism.

The petitioners levelled allegations against Nationalist Congress Party NCP Chief Sharad Pawar, his daughter and Member of Parliament Supriya Sule and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

According to the petitioner, but for the influence by these politicians, the officials of the State government and Maharashtra Krishan Valley Development Corporation would not have succumbed and taken decisions contrary to law and prejudicial to public interest.

In its judgment, the High Court had noted that the allegations levelled in the petition against Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule have not been rebutted by them and would, therefore, have to be assumed as correct.

However, the Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni deemed it fit to have a “judicial hands-off” approach since one of the objections to the plea was the delay in approaching the Court.

“If at all interference were an option, in our considered opinion, the harm that interference at this belated stage would cause is likely to far out-weigh the benefit that could, if at all, accrue to the farmers on whose behalf the petitioner has instituted this writ petition,” the Court said.

The High Court also noted that by now, farmers would have lost rights in respect of their properties and developed third party interests. Additionally, the lands may not be conducive for farming.

In their SLP before the top court, the petitioners have contended that the affected farmers have been subjected to grave continuous injustice against them ever since the lands of 18 villages notified as hill stations were sold at paltry sums to the Corporation in 2002.

It was also argued that the Lavasa Lake City project is being developed in complete contravention of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act, 1966 and the Maharasthra Krishan Valley Development Corporation Act, 1996.

Further, it was claimed that the High Court dismissed the plea on hyper-technical grounds of gross delay. Even though the High Court acknowledged that the systematic abuse of power amounted to breach of the Public Trust Doctrine, it has "miserably failed to pierce the veil and the functional immunity accorded to the holders of public offices to hold them accountable and has failed to attribute even an iota of responsibility for their continuous grave wrongs," the plea before the Supreme Court states.

As interim relief, the petitioner sought a stay on the construction in the 18 villages. It was noted that the Lavasa Corporation Limited had filed insolvency proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The petitioner thus sought a direction to the NCLT to not proceed further until the disposal of the present petition, so that no third party rights are created.