Nagpur: Supreme Court on Thursday refused to interfere with a Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court judgement upholding the acquisition of 12.12 hectares of land for a sewerage treatment plant (STP) and pumping station under the state-funded Pohra River Pollution Abatement Project, clearing the way for the civic project to proceed.A division bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu dismissed a special leave petition filed by Shree Ganesh Builders against HC’s Aug 7 judgement. The apex court, however, left it open to the builder to raise all its claims for higher compensation before the appropriate authority. The Maharashtra govt was led by advocate general Milind Sathe, senior counsel and govt pleader at HC Nagpur bench Deven Chauhan, Parth Malviya and others.The dispute concerns land at Mouza Chikhli (Khurd), which has been reserved since the 2001 Development Plan for a “Drainage and Sewerage Disposal Scheme”. The builder had challenged the acquisition, contending that the reservation had lapsed under Section 127 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act (MRTP Act).The HC division bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Raj Wakode had rejected that contention, holding that the builder’s purchase notice issued in June 2014 suffered from a fundamental defect. The notice covered three land parcels whose revenue records showed three separate legal entities as owners. Nagpur Municipal Corporation had pointed out the discrepancy in Dec 2014 and sought title documents, but the petitioner neither rectified the defect nor challenged the rejection of the notice for more than a decade.HC also noted that after acquisition proceedings commenced in 2025, the builder participated in hearings, submitted claims for compensation and subsequently sought enhanced compensation through a reference. It held that the company’s conduct was inconsistent with its simultaneous challenge to the acquisition.HC had described the challenge as “without any basis and is an afterthought” and upheld the land acquisition award dated Oct 29, 2025.The acquisition involves land identified by NMC as a site for an STP and pumping station under the Pohra River Pollution Abatement Project, aimed at reducing pressure on the city’s existing sewage-treatment infrastructure and addressing the needs of the city’s growing population.Justices Kilor and Wakode had noted that Rs 11.77 crore in compensation had already been deposited with the Land Acquisition Officer and that the project had remained stalled during the pendency of the petition because of an interim status quo order.
