K.VASUDEVA RAJU Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners are invoking the jurisdiction of this Court for laying a challenge to the acquisition of the schedule land measuring 01 Acre & 10 Guntas. They also seek deletion of the subject land from the acquisition process on the basis of the report submitted by the SLAO to the effect that the possession of the land still remains with the land owners only.

(2.) After service of notice, the State and its officials have entered appearance through the learned AGA; the Respondent No.4 - Housing Society is represented by its Sr. Panel Counsel who has field the Statement of Objections. Learned AGA & the Panel Counsel vehemently oppose the Petition contending that Petitioners are abusing the process of the Court; the acquisition having taken place decades ago, the possession was taken over and handed to the Housing Society which had already remitted the Compensation. Learned Panel Counsel appearing for the Society points out that the award is a consent award and therefore in the light of long line of decisions of the Apex Court, the consent awardee or anyone claiming under him cannot lay a challenge to the acquisition at all.

(3.) Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and having perused the Petition papers, this Court is broadly in agreement with submission made on behalf of the Respondents and more particularly, leaned Sr. Panel Counsel appearing for the Housing Society. The Preliminary Notification dtd. 22/9/1988 was issued under Sec. 4(1) of the erstwhile Land Acquisition Act , 1894. The khathedars had filed Objections to the acquisition which aspect is mentioned in the judgment of a Coordinate Bench of this Court which had negatived the challenge to the acquisition in W.P.No.21109 & W.P.No.21110/1989 disposed off on 21/12/1993. Petitioners have suppressed all the relevant facts absolutely with no justification whatsoever. Even there, the land owners had lied that they had no opportunity of opposing the proposal for acquisition.