M R KAVITHA Vs. DISTRICT COLLECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Act 31 of 1978 was struck down by this Court as unconstitutional on 09.09.1981. That decision was reversed by the Supreme Court on 22.11.1994 in the case of State of Tamil Nadu vs. Ananthi Ammal, reported in A.I.R. 1995 S.C. 2114. While upholding the validity of the Act, the Court held that the provisions of Section 2 of the Special Act will have no application in cases where awards have been made under the Land Acquisition Act. That judgment has been understood uniformly as enabling the State to regard the acquisition as having been completed under the Land Acquisition Act only in cases where awards were passed under that Act for acquisition of lands for the purposes covered by the Special Act provided the award had been passed before 22.11.1994.

(2.) Any proceeding for acquisition for the purpose set out in the special enactment will have to be under that Special enactment only and not under the Land Acquisition Act.

(3.) In the case on hand, the State issued a notification under Section 4 (1) of the Special Act on 25.11.1995. But no enquiry under Section 4(2) of the Act preceded the issue of notification under Section 4(1) of the Act. The notification was sought to be sustained by the State by relying upon an enquiry held by it under Section 5A of the Land Acquisition Act, pursuant to a notification issued under that Act in the year 1992. A declaration under Section 6 of the Act had also been issued under the Land Acquisition Act after that enquiry.