ISHWAR DASS Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By virtue of the present petition preferred under Articles 226/227 Constitution of India, the petitioners have approached this Court for the issuance of an appropriate writ, order or direction for: (a) quashing the notification dated 16.7.1992 (Annexure P -1) issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, the Act), notification dated 8.10.1992 (Annexure P -4) issued under Section 17(4) of the Act and the award dated 22.3.1996 (Annexure P -12) made under Section 11 of the Act by the Collector Land Acquisition; and (b) to direct the respondents to deliver back the possession of the land illegally taken in pursuance of the notifications and award referred to above.

(2.) Land measuring 0 -63 -76 Hectares comprising of Khasra Nos. 544,544/1 and 544/2 in Mohal Dhawal, Mauza Dharamshala, Tehsil Dharamshala of District Kangra, belonging to the petitioners was notified for acquisition under Section 4 of the Act on 16.7.1992 vide notification Annexure P -1 for a public purpose, namely setting up of T.V. Relay Centre. After the issuance of the said notification, vide communication dated 6.8.1992 (Annexure P -2) the petitioners were called for negotiations in order to ensure for expeditious transfer of the land instead of undergoing the process of acquisition in view of the urgent purpose for which the land was required. The petitioners on 11.8.1992 through Annexure P -3 conveyed their unwillingness to part with and transfer the land. They also requested that their land be not acquired since they were in the process of developing the same as a tourist resort by constructing tourist huts therein. Since private negotiations did not materialise and the land was urgently required, the respondents by resorting to the powers in case of urgency under Section 17 of the Act issued a notification under Section 17(4) of the Act on 8.10.1992 (Annexure P -4) dispensing with the applicability of the provisions of Section 5 -A of the Act.

(3.) On 19.5.1993, a writ petition, being CWP No. 570 of 1993, came to be filed by Shri Ramesh Thakur and Dr. Anupam Khanna, residents of Dharamshala, as public interest litigation for a direction to the respondents to choose another site for the construction of T.V. Relay Centre. It was pleaded that the site in question was not appropriate for the purpose and that setting up of the T.V. Relay Centre may cause interference to the Central recording Centre which was coming up in the neighbourhood.