STANLEY RODRIGUES Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE petitions are heard and disposed of together having regard to the common issues that arise for consideration.

(2.) AT the stage of hearing, it was brought to the attention of this court that the Special Land Acquisition Officer of the KIADB, Mangalore had recommended dropping of proceedings in respect of certain lands adjacent to the lands belonging to the petitioners on the ground that those lands are situated in a low - lying area and are not suitable for the purposes for which it was sought to be acquired. It was the case of the petitioners that if that recommendation is applicable to the lands so sought to be dropped from the proceedings it would equally apply to the petitioners' lands as well since those lands are situated either adjacent to, or in lands in the same survey numbers. By the same token of reasoning, if the lands which are lying in the low -lying areas had to be deleted from the acquisition proceedings, the petitioners' lands also had to be deleted. This being the primary contention put forward by the petitioners, though such a contention was not raised by them at the time of hearing their objections to the acquisition proceedings. The explanation offered by the petitioners was that they were unaware that the lands in low -lying areas would be deleted from the acquisition proceedings.

(3.) IN order to give a quietus to the controversy, it was found appropriate that a fresh survey be conducted to ascertain whether the lands in question in the present writ petitions were indeed lying in such a low -lying area that it would render the lands unsuitable for industrial development and whether the lands which were dropped from the proceedings were any different from the lands of the petitioners. And hence it was directed that a survey be conducted.