(1) Where, on any representation from the Authority or any Board it appears to the State Government that, in order to enable the Authority to discharge any of its functions or to exercise any of its powers or to carry out any of its proposals, plans, or projects, it is necessary that any land should be acquired, the State Government may acquire the land by publishing in the Official Gazette a notification to the effect that the State Government has decided to acquire the land in pursuance of this section :
Provided that, before publishing such notification, the State Government shall by notice published in the Official Gazette, and served in the prescribed manner, call upon the owner of, or any other person who, in the opinion of that Government, may be interested in, such land to show cause, why it should not be acquired and after considering the cause, if any, shown by the owner or any other person interested in the land, the State Government may pass such order as it thinks fit :
[Provided further that, if the land proposed to be acquired falls within the Scheduled Areas then the State Government shall before such acquisition and before re-setting or rehabilitating of persons affected consult,-
(i) the Gram Sabha and the Panchayat concerned, if the land falls within the area of one Panchayat ;
(ii) concerned Gram Sabhas and the Panchayat Samiti, if the land falls within the area of more than one village in the Block concerned ;
(iii) the concerned Gram Sabhas and the Zilla Pasishad concerned, if the land falls within the jurisdiction of more than one Blocks in the district concerned ;
such consultation shall be done in the manner as may be laid down by the State Government by issuing general or special order issued in this behalf :
Provided that, the decision taken by the majority of the Gram Sabhas concerned by passing a resolution in the above matter shall be binding on the concerned Panchayat Samiti or the Zilla Parishad, as the case may be.
Explanation.- for the purpose these provisos,-
(i) the expressions "Gram Sabha", "Panchayat" and "Scheduled Areas" shall have the meaning respectively assigned to them in the Bombay Village Panchayats Act, 1958 (Bom. III of 1959) ;
(ii) the expressions "Panchayat Samiti" and" Zilla Parishad" shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961 (Mah. V of 1962).]
(2) The acquisition of land for any purpose mentioned in sub-section (1) shall be deemed to be a public purpose.
(3) Where notification aforesaid is published in the Official Gazette, the land shall, on and from the date on which the notification is so published, vest absolutely in the State Government free from all encumbrances.