ANNIE VARGHESE Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONERS jointly own a rubber plantation, having an extent of 36. 60 acres equivalent to 14. 82 hectares in Kunnamthanam Village. For the purpose of Industries Growth Centre, the Special Tahsildar issued a notification under S. 4 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act ('the Act'. for short) on 18. 6. 1994. The said notification was published on 14 6. 1994 and on 18. 6. 1994 in two Malayalam dailies. Public notice was also issued in the locality on 15. 6. 1995. Declaration under S. 6 of the Act was published in the Gazette dated 15. 5. 1996 and in two dailies dated 9. 6. 1996 and 14. 6. 1996. The date of publication of declaration is thus 14. 6. 1996, being the last of the dates of such publication, as per S. 6 (2) of the Act.

(2.) ON publication of the declaration, petitioners challenged the declaration in O. PNo. 6143 of 1998 on the ground that it was issued after one year from the date of publication of notification under S. 4 (1) of the Act and hence it is violative of proviso to S. 6 (1) of the Act. Copy of the Original Petition is Ext. P1. This Court passed an order of interim stay of all proceedings pursuant to S. 4 (1) notification as per order dated 27. 3. 1998. The interim stay order is Ext. P2. The Original Petition was dismissed on 12. 6. 2006 and the judgment is Ext. P3. The stay continued for a period of five years, two months and 16 days.

(3.) A Writ Appeal was filed as W. A. No. 1219 of 2003 and stay was granted on 24. 7. 2003 for one month. On 3. 1 1. 2003, the stay granted was extended until further orders and the Writ Appeal was dismissed on 20. 6. 2005 and the copy of the judgment is Ext. P4. The stay was in force for one year, ten months and twenty seven days during the pendency of the Writ Appeal. The Special Leave Petition filed against the judgment in the Writ Appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court on 2. 9. 2005. Review Petition also was dismissed on 6. 12. 2005.