VIRA BHANA Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In all these 13 Special Civil Applications common questions based on identical facts are involved in the matter of challenge to the acquisition proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act and, therefore, we proceed to decide all these 13 Special Civil Applications by this common judgment and order as under:-

(2.) Petitioners herein are the land owners of villages Navagam and Vadnagar of Taluka Kodinar, District - Amreli (now in Revenue District Junagadh). The lands of these land owners were sought to be acquired under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 at the instance of the Company - respondent No.3. The particulars of the lands concerned in these Special civil Applications are as under:- <FRM>JUDGEMENT_202_TLGJ0_1999Html1.htm</FRM> Date:12.5.99

(3.) These lands in question were sought to be acquired at the instance of the respondent No.3 i.e. Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd., which is a Public Limited Company duly incorporated and registered under the Companies Act, 1956 and it was arrayed as respondent No.3 as per Court's order dt 25.4.94 passed in Civil Application No.518/94 in Special Civil Application No.1525/94. The Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd. Company shall be herein-after referred to as 'the Company'. These lands were sought to be acquired for the purpose of new cement manufacturing Unit and for infrastructure facilities in and around the Unit of the said Company. For that purpose, the proposal for acquisition of the lands in question was made to the State Government on 14.5.92. The Deputy Secretary, then sent a letter dt.20.5.92 to inquire into the proposal and the Collector instructed the Assistant Collector to inquire into the said proposal of the Company. The Assistant Collector then instructed the Mamlatdar to instruct the land owners so as to associate themselves for the purpose of the said inquiry. Certain land owners including Laxman Shardul, Naza Bachu, Natha Karsan and Dava Bhagvan did remain present on 16.6.92 and 19.6.92 and these respondents also submitted their written objections with their signatures. The Assistant Collector then submitted the result of this inquiry to the Collector on 23.6.92 and the Collector submitted reported to the Government on 25/26-6-92. The Collector then made the proposal to the Government for acquisition on 24.7.90. Whereas it was a case of acquisition of an agricultural land of an area more than 20 Acres, prior permission of the Committee consisting of the Ministers were required to be obtained as per the Government Notification dt.20.9.91, a meeting was held accordingly and sanction was granted by this Committee consisting of Ministers on 16.12.92 for the purpose of issuing Notification under S.4. Accordingly the Notification under S.4 of the Land Acquisition Act dt.16.12.92 was published on 20.12.92. This Notification was also published in Gujarati Newspapers on 28.12.92 and in English Newspapers on 31.12.92 and it was also pasted at conspicuous places in the concerned villages on 30.12.92 and 1.1.93. Some of the petitioners represented before the Government on 20.1.93 that the concerned lands were rich agricultural lands, that they were dependent on the agricultural lands only, were not interested to sell their lands, that the entire village was opposed to said acquisition, that there was no public purpose and that these land owners were also supplying sugar cane to sugar cane factories. Thereafter, the notices for hearing were issued on 10.3.93 for the date of 16.3.93. The notices were also issued to objectors on 10.3.93 and certain claimants were present and on behalf of the Company one Shri Rajiv Jain was also present. All those, who were present, also submitted their written objections. The report of S.5A inquiry was forwarded to the Under Secretary, Land Acquisition, Government of Gujarat on 17.2.93 alongwith the proceedings and the objections recorded in the prescribed form and on 22.2.93 the Deputy Secretary, Revenue Department sent the communication to the Assistant Collector guiding him as regards the conduct of the S. 5A inquiry. It appears that on 26.2.93 on the basis of the complaint made by certain agriculturists in the matter of acquisition of the lands addressed to the Chief Minister, the files with details was called for by the office of the Chief Minister on 26.2.93. On 6.3.93 the file was submitted alongwith the detailed note. Thereafter, the notices dated 10.3.93 for the date of hearing i.e. 16.3.93 were sent and Bhanabhai Thobhanbhai Parmar, Vajesinh Thobhanbhai Parmar, Babubhai Siddibhai Parmar, Narsingh Jagmal, Bhagvan Nathu, Jiviben Siddibhai through her son Vajesingh Siddibhai remained present and on behalf of the Company Shri Rajiv Jain was also present. It further appears that on 11.11.93 the local M.L.A., addressed a letter to the Chief Minister to look into the matter and raised the grievance in the matter of the acquisition of the land. On receipt of such complaint from the local M.L.A., the Chief Minister's office addressed a letter to the Addl. Chief Secretary, Revenue Department calling for the file and on 24.11.93 the Deputy Secretary wrote a letter to the Collector calling for the detailed report with regard to the contents of the aforesaid complaint received from the office of the Chief Minister. Thereafter, on 22.12.93, the Deputy Secretary, Agriculture, Co-operation and Rural Development Department sent a letter to the Deputy Secretary and Member Secretary, Land ACquisition Committee, Revenue Department in the matter of the acquisition of the land for the respondent - Company at Vadnagar and Navagam conveying that the acquisition of the lands of these two villages may go ahead and there was no objection against such acquisition proceedings. The Joint Industrial Commissioner, (Industries Department) also sent a letter on 27.12.93 to the Deputy Secretary and Member Secretary, Land Acquisition Committee, Revenue Department to the same effect that the acquisition of the land for the respondent - Company may go ahead. Thereafter, the Notification under S.6 dated 28.12.93 was issued and published in the Gazette, which was pasted at conspicuous places in the concerned villages on 30.12.93, the same was also published in the News Papers on 31.12.93. Thereafter, the public notice under S.9(1) was issued on 25.1.93 and individual notices were also issued under S.9(3) and S.9(4) on 10.2.94. The awards were then passed in the matter of the acquisition of the lands of the two villages i.e. Navagam and Vadnagar on 30.5.95 and 20.6.95 respectively.