MURARI LAL Vs. DELHI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These three writ petitions are by residents of Nangal Dairy, Gurgaon Road, Delhi. The lands in their possession have been acquired under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (LA Act), along with the lands in the adjoining village Nangal Devat, for the public purpose of the expansion of the international airport at Delhi. The grievance in the present petition is that although there is a scheme for rehabilitation of the displaced residents of village Nangal Devat by providing alternative land in village Rangpuri, there is no similar rehabilitation scheme for the residents of village Nangal Dairy, whom the petitioners represent. They claim that the refusal by the state to provide them alternate sites in lieu of the lands acquired is both arbitrary and discriminatory. They seek a mandamus to the respondents not to dispossess the petitioners till they are "not allotted alternate site/accommodation and are fully resettled."

(2.) The acquisition of the lands belonging to the petitioners commenced with the issuance of a Section 4 Notification under the LA Act on 23.1.1965. The Section 6 declaration was issued on 26.12.1968. This was followed by an Award No. 30/72-73 dated 7.9.1972. The compensation for the various parcels of land acquired has been determined by the Award. This acquisition was simultaneous with acquisition of the land in village Nangal Devat. The residents of village Nangal Devat challenged the acquisition by filing WP(C) 481/1982 (Daryao Singh v. Union of India) and a batch of writ petitions which came to be disposed of on 3.8.2001. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) made a statement before this Court during the hearing of the said writ petition that a rehabilitation scheme was being prepared in respect of the lands acquired in village Nangal Devat. On this statement, the petitioners there withdrew the challenge to the acquisition and consequently the writ petitions were withdrawn. However, in respect of the lands of the petitioners in the adjoining Nangal Dairy neither was there a challenge to the acquisition proceedings, nor was there any announcement of a scheme for rehabilitation.

(3.) The petitioners state that a letter was written by Assistant Housing Commissioner, Land Building Department, Delhi Administration to the President, Nangal Dairy Citizens Society on 12.1.1973 stating that "the question regarding the resettlement of the residents of Nangal village and Nangal Dairy is being finalized by the Delhi Development Authority." It appears that thereafter, the residents of Nangal Dairy wrote to the Assistant Housing Commissioner more than six years later on 19.4.1979 requesting for resettlement in the Mehrauli Block. The letter refers to notices received by them from the Land Acquisition Collector (LAC) directing them to hand over possession of the lands. It is claimed that on 8.6.1979, a letter was received from the DDA asking the residents of village Nangal Dairy to pursue the matter with the Land and Buildings Department. Meanwhile for the purposes of resettling the villagers of Nangal Devat, land at village Rangpuri was acquired by an Award No. 28/87-88 dated 23.11.1987. The next request made by these petitioners for allotment of alternative land was on 23.11.2006.