GANDHI AMMAL Vs. GOVERNMENT OF PONDICHERRY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Judgment of the Court was delivered by S.Jagadeesan, J.: 1. Appellants are the legal representatives of the original owner of the land, which was sought to be acquired by the respondents.

(2.) ADMITTEDLY the notification under Sec.4(i) of the Land Acquisition Act was published on 8.7.1986. Thereafter, the original owner was served with a notice for enquiry under Sec.5-A of the Land Acquisition Act. The original owner, the predecessor of the appellants herein, filed the objection through power of Attorney before the Land Acquisition Officer on 15.9.1986. Thereafter, the objection filed by the original owner was over-ruled and the declaration under Sec.6 of the said Act was made on 25.6.1987. The appellants herein have filed the W.P.No.7754 of 1987 challenging in acquisition proceedings on the ground that they were not given any notice for the enquiry under Sec.5-A of the Land Acquisition Act. Further it has been stated in the affidavit, filed in support of the writ petition that the Rule 5(b) of the Pondicherry Land Acquisition Rules, 1963 had not been complied with.

(3.) AS rightly pointed out by the learned Government Pleader, the objections were submitted by the land owners beyond the period of 30 days, which is in contravention of the requirement of Sec.5-A of the Land Acquisition Act. In such cases, the question is whether those objections are to be considered. The Division Bench of this Court in the case of Velusamy and another v. The Government of Tamil Nadu by its Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Departments, Chennai and another, (2000)1 C.T.C. 530 held that only if the objections have been received within 30 days such objections have to be forwarded to the requisitioning body and the remarks have to be called for. Otherwise, the requirement of the Rule 3(b). of the Tamil Nadu Land Acquisition Rules need not be followed. The said rule is almost in pari materia with the Rule 5(b) of the Pondicherry Land Acquisition Rules. Following the said principle, laid down by the Division Bench of this Court, we are of the view that the objections filed by the appellants herein beyond the period of 30 days need not be considered.