Bombay High Court Rules: 20-Year Inaction + Missed Deadline = Automatic Lapse of Burial & Cremation Ground Reservation
Because the Solapur Municipal Corporation failed to acquire two plots reserved for a burial ground and cremation ground for more than two decades and did nothing even after receiving a statutory purchase notice in 2021, the Bombay High Court has permanently stripped the civic body of the reservation.
The Division Bench of Justices M.S. Karnik and Ajit B. Kadethankar delivered a stinging rebuke to the authorities, declaring that the reservation on approximately 3 hectares at Survey Nos. 69/2/B/1 and 69/2/B/2 in Marjewadi village, North Solapur, has lapsed automatically under Section 127 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1966.
Timeline of Government Inaction
- Reservation imposed in Solapur Development Plan (effective December 2004)
- Mandatory 10-year acquisition period expired in 2014 – zero steps taken
- Landowners served valid purchase notice on 8 March 2021 demanding acquisition within 12 months
- Statutory deadline expired on 7 March 2022 – still no action
- Corporation’s desperate defence: “Purchase notice was defective – documents and detailed description missing”
The Court categorically rejected this argument, holding that once the statutory period lapses without acquisition, authorities cannot raise technical objections about the notice to defeat de-reservation.
Key Findings of the Court
- Title documents are required only if the government actually wants to buy the land – not to block lapsing when it has slept on the file for decades.
- The 2021 notice clearly identified the land and even attached zone certificates, 7/12 extracts, and development plan copies – the Corporation itself admitted receiving it.
- Relying on Supreme Court and Bombay High Court precedents (Girnar Traders, Godrej & Boyce, Dina Sohrab Hakim, etc.), the Bench ruled that minor defects cannot override the statutory consequence of inaction.
Final Orders
- Reservation declared lapsed under Section 127 of MRTP Act
- Authorities to notify all departments within 6 weeks
- Lapse to be published in Maharashtra Government Gazette within 12 weeks
- Land fully released to owners (Niyojit Siddhivinayak Gruhnirman Sanstha) for development as permissible on adjacent plots
- Solapur Municipal Corporation directed to grant development permission immediately after formal de-reservation
The land is now free for housing or any other lawful development.
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