SUKHDEV SHARMA ETC Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment disposes of C. W. P. No. 3269 of 1990 and 21 other connected writ petitions, i. e. C. W. P. Nos. 3270, 3271, 3654, 4668, 4670, 4716, 4743, 4741, 4758, 4865, 4862, 4954, 4972, 5056, 5160, 5041, 5241, 5173, 6591, 12016 of 1990 and 4810 of 1991. In these petitions under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India, serious challange has been made to Notification No. LAC (P)/ntla-87/1914, dated April 21 1987 issued under Section 4 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short the Act) and Notification No. LAC (P)-NTLA-88/2785, dated April 20 1988, issued by the Haryana Government, Urban Estate Department under Section 6 (2) of the Act,

(2.) REFERENCE to relevant facts has been made from the Pleadings in C. W. P. No. 3269 of 1990 except where it is otherwise necessary to refer to a particular fact in a particular writ petition, it has been so made from the pleadings of that writ petition :the process of compulsory acquisition starts with the issuance of a notification under Section 4 of the Act. The object of issuing a notification under Section 4 of the Act is two fold First it is a public announcement by the government and a public notice by the Collector to the effect that the land, as specified therein is needed by the government for the "public purpose" mentioned therein and secondly it authorises the departmental officers of the local authority' as the case may be, to do all such acts as are mentioned in Section 4 (2) of the Act. The notification has to be published in the locality and particularly persons likely to be affected by the proposal have to be on notice that such activity is afoot Sub-section (1) of Section 5-A of the Act enables any person interested in any land which has been notified under Section 4 (1) of the Act within thirty days from the date of publication to file objection to the acquisition of the land or of any land in the locality, as the case may be Every such objection must be made to the Land Acquisition Collector in writing. Under Section 6 of the Act, a declaration can be issued only after the appropriate Government is satisfied, after considering the report, if any, made under Section 5-A (2) that any particular land is needed for a public purpose or for a Company. Consideration of the report under Section 5-A (2) will be a condition precedent to a valid declaration under Section 6 of the Act.

(3.) IN the instant case, the land was acquired by the Haryana Government on a request made by the Haryana Urban,, Development Authority (for short, the HUDA ). The public purpose specified in the notification under Section 4 (1) of the Act is, "for the development utilization of land as residential area under the Haryana Urban Development Authority Act, 1977. " The notification also provided that "any person interested who has any objection to the acquisition of land in the locality, may within a period of 30 days of publication of this notification, file objections in writing before the Land Acquisition Collector. " Some of the petitioners filed objections saying that their land was situated in already developed congested area, that the land was purchased for residential and factory purposes; that they did not own any other residential plot except the ones sought to be acquired; that the acquired land was already developed and populated and the site plan annexed with the petition would show that a big Hospital, Schools, factories, saw mills and pucca houses were already there in the acquired land; that they had set up a saw mill in the said land after getting permission from the Municipality, Jagadhari and also paid House tax; that they also got the licence from the Chief Inspector of Factories for running the saw mill vide Registered No. AMB-S-269/6305 on December 31, 1985 and that their unit is also registered with the Industries Department as S. S. I. Unit; that they have also built up pucca rooms and shed in the factory and made part construction on the rest of the land for their houses it is further averred in the petition that some vacant plots, plots built upto plinth level, some houses and saw mills have been exempted from acquisition, whereas the house and factory of the petitioners have been acquired. The site plan, Annexure P-2 to the writ petition, would show that vacant plots situated in khasra No. 487 and Khasra No. 60 and so many other partly const ucted houses and Saw Mills have been released from acquisition even affer the publication of the notification under Section 6 of the Act. The properties released after the publicition of notification under Section 6 of the Act are shown in brown lines in Annexure P-2. It is averred that the authorities have adopted the policy of pick and choose in releasing some of the land from acquisition and have acted in a mala fide manner. Even the vacant plots which are in the middle of the acquired land have been released from acquisition. Whereas the petitioners' property which is already developed as a house and a factory and which is adjacent to ESI Hospital and a few yards away from the shopping and Commercial Complex has been acquired. Land notified under Section 4 (1) of the Act measures 250. 45 acres, whereas the land notified under Section 6 of the Act measures 247 34 acres. The land released from the acquisition before the publication of the notification under Section 6 is shown with the help of blue Jines in the site plan, Annexure P-2 to the writ petition, and the land released from acquisition of the publicat on of notification under Section 6 is shown with the help of brown lines in the said site plan.