SUDHIR MADHAVRAO KUDALE Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Learned Counsel for the Respondents waives service. By consent of the parties, this Writ Petition was taken up for final hearing and disposal.

(2.) This Writ Petition has been filed by landowners who claim to have owned a building called Shantiniketan located in Gat / Survey number 336 adjoining National Highway No. 4 (" NH-4") in Village Shriramnagar, Khed Shivapur, TalukaHaveli, District Pune, which they claim was acquired and demolished at the behest of the National Highways Authority of India ("NHAI") without following due process of law in the course of widening the NH-4, with no compensation having been paid to the Petitioners for the acquisition of the building.

(3.) According to the Petitioners, Shantiniketan comprised four stories and has been in existence since 1973-741. Originally, Mr. Madhavrao Laxmanrao Kudale and Mrs. Nalini Madhavrao Kudale owned the property. The Petitioners are the offspring of this couple. In the course of the proceedings, Petitioner No. 1 expired and his three offspring came to be substituted as legal heirs in his place.