ORDER

Leave granted. Heard counsel for the parties.

2. This appeal by special leave arises from the judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court of Delhi passed on 2.3.1987 in C.W. No. 2657/85.

3. Notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, the "Act") was published on November 5, 1980 acquiring a large extent of land admeasuring 50,000 bighas situated in several villages including Khirkee village. The land in Khirkee village admeasures 1011 bighas of which the appellant is in possession of 25 bighas. Declaration under Section 6 was published on June 7, 1985. Challenging the declaration, several writ petitions came to be filed in the High Court. The primary contention was that the declaration having been published after 3 years, is barred by law. The notification under Section 4(1) stands lapsed. Similar to the appellants, several persons approached the High Court. The Full Bench in Balak Ram Gupta & Union of India1, upheld the validity of the notification under Section 4(1) and declaration under Section 6 on the ground that some of the land owners whose land was covered under the common notification under Section 4(1) had already approached the H