BRIJ MOHAN Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These four writ petitions have been filed by the farmers of four villages, namely, Kansera, Jikarpur, Jahangarh and Tappal of district Aligarh claiming withdrawal of acquisition of their agricultural land under Section 48 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The issues raised in these writ petitions being common, they have been heard together and are being decided by this common judgment.

(2.) Pleading in Writ Petition No. 66066 of 2011 are complete which is being treated as leading writ petition. It is sufficient to refer the facts and pleadings in Writ Petition No. 66066 of 2011 to decide all the four writ petitions, which are as follows; notification under Section4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) dated 31st March, 2009 proposing acquisition of an area of 72.5249 hectares of land was issued. The inquiry under Section 5A of the Act was dispensed with invoking Sections 17(1) and 17(4) of the Act. The declaration under Section 6 was issued on 28th May, 2009. The aforesaid acquisition was challenged in this Court by filing writ petitions by land owners. The acquisition was made for Yamuna Expressway running from NOIDA to Agra and five parcels located alongwith the said expressway. The writ petitions challenging the notifications dated 31st March, 2009 and 28th May, 2009 in respect of villages, namely, Jahangarh, Kansera, Jikarpur, Tappal and Kripalpur of district Aligarh were dismissed alongwith batch of writ petitions led by writ petition of Narendra Road Lines by a Division Bench of this Court vide judgment and order dated 2nd July, 2010 which is reported in 2010(7) ADJ 329. Some of the petitioners, who are the petitioners in these writ petitions, have also assailed the notifications, which writ petition was also dismissed i.e. Writ Petition No. 46617 of 2009 decided on 11th August, 2010. The petitioners neither took the compensation nor entered into any agreement as offered by the State and raised protest regarding acquisition of their land despite upholding of notifications under Sections 4 and 6 of the Act. Large number of farmers including the petitioners raised their protest against the acquisition and the amount of compensation offered for the land. The State Government took a policy decision on 27th August, 2010 with regard to five villages of district Aligarh, namely, Kansera, Jikarpur, Kripalpur, Jahangarh and Tappal providing for various benefits including compensation at the rate of Rs. 570/- per square meter on the basis of the recommendation of the State Level Committee. The Government order dated 27th August, 2010 was issued on the above subject by which nine directives were issued pertaining to acquisition of land of the aforesaid five villages. One of the decisions taken by the State Government was that if any farmer is not ready for the acquisition of his land at the rate of Rs. 570 per square meter, his land be not acquired without his consent. Petitioners claim that they are throughout in possession and sown crops over the land in dispute. Petitioners submitted representation to the State Government on 2nd November, 2010 requesting that acquisition for development of township in Tappal be cancelled and the name of villagers of the aforesaid five villages be restored in the revenue records. A writ petition being Writ Petition No. 40117 of 2011 was filed by Brij Mohan and others in this Court raising a grievance that representation submitted by the petitioners under Section 48 of the Act pending before State Government be directed to be considered and their land be directed to be released. The said writ petition was disposed of by a Division Bench of this Court by order dated 21st July, 2011 directing the authority concerned to consider the grievance of the petitioners. After the order of this Court, notice dated 27th September, 2011 was issued to various villagers of the aforesaid five villages by the Special Land Acquisition Officer, Aligarh and the petitioners were also asked to appear before the State Government on 30th September, 2011. Some of the petitioners appeared before the State Government on 30th September, 2011 and submitted their representations. In the representation they specifically referred to sub-paragraph (2) of paragraph 1 of the Government order 27th August, 2010 which provided that the land of those farmers be not acquired who do not accept the compensation at the rate of Rs. 570/- per square meter without their consent. The State Government vide its order dated 11th October, 2011 rejected the application under Section 48 of the Act and refused to release the land. The Writ Petition No. 66066 of 2011 has been filed challenging the aforesaid decision dated 11th October, 2011, praying for following relief :

(3.) Writ Petition No. 72604 of 2011 has been filed by villagers of villages Jikarpur and Mazra Udaipura Tappal praying for following relief.: