JUDGMENT

G.S. Singhvi, J.

1. The question which arises for consideration in this appeal is whether the acquisition of the appellant's land lapsed on account of non-passing of an award within the period specified in Section 11A of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, 'the Act').

2. The appellant's land was acquired by the State Government for and on behalf of Tamil Nadu Housing Board. Notification under Section 4(1) of the Act was issued on 01.11.1982 and was published in the Official Gazette on 24.11.1982. The declaration under Section 6 was issued on 2.2.1985. The same was published in the Official Gazette dated 20.02.1985 and in the local newspapers on 22.5.1985.

3. The writ petition filed by the appellant and others questioning the acquisition of land, which came to be registered as Writ Petition No.3646 of 1987 was allowed by the learned Single Judge vide order dated 24.10.1991. That order was set aside by the Division Bench in Writ Appeal No.406 of 1994 filed by respondent Nos.1 to 3. Thereafter, the Special Tahsildar (Land Acquisition), Neighbourhood Scheme, Ayyan Thirumaligam Road, Salem passed an award dated 10.12.1996.

4. Immediately thereafter, the appellant and proforma respondent Nos. 4 to 7, whose name were deleted vide order dated 25.01.2010, filed Writ Petition No.19284 of 1996 for grant of a declaration that the acquisition of their land will be deemed to have lapsed because the award was not passed within two years. Respondent Nos.1 to 3 contested the writ petition by asserting that the award was passed within two years from the date of receipt of the copy of the Division Bench judgment dated 29.8.1996. The learned Single Judge allowed the writ petition and declared that the acquisition of the writ petitioners' land will be deemed to have lapsed because the award was passed after more than two years counted from the date of last publication of the declaration issued under Section 6 of the Act.

5. The Division Bench of the High Court allowed the appeal preferred by respondent Nos. 1 to 3 and set aside the order of the learned Single Judge by relying upon the judgments of this Court in Narasimhaiah v. State of Karnataka, (1996) 3 SCC 88; State of Tamilnadu v. L. Krishnan, (1996) 1 SCC 250; Executive Engineer, Jal Nigam Central Stores Division v. Suresha Nand Juyal (1997) 9 SCC 224; Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay v. Industrial Development Investment Co. (P) Ltd., (1996) 11 SCC 501; Municipal council, Ahmednagar v. Shah Hyder Beig, (2000) 2 SCC 48; Tej Kaur v. State of Punjab, (2003) 4 SCC 485; and Padma Sundara Rao (Dead) & Others v. State of Tamilnadu & Others, (2002) 3 SCC 533. In the opinion of the Division Bench, the law laid down by the Constitution Bench of this Court in Padma Sundara Rao v. State of Tamil Nadu(supra) cannot be applied to the cases in which the acquisition proceedings had become final. The Division Bench was also of the view that the writ petition filed by the appellant herein and the proforma respondents was highly belated.

6. Learned counsel for the appellant argued that the impugned judgment is liable to be set aside because the view taken by the Division Bench of the High Court on the interpretation of Section 11A of the Act is contrary to its plain language and the judgment of the Constitution Bench in Padma Sundara Rao v. State of Tamil Nadu (supra). Learned counsel submitted that the observations made in the last paragraph of the Constitution Bench judgment suggesting that the law laid down by it will not apply to the cases in which the acquisition had become final has no application to the present case because the land owners had questioned the acquisition and at the time of decision of the Constitution Bench, the writ petition filed by them was pending consideration.

7. Learned counsel for the respondent Nos. 1 to 3 made half-hearted attempt to support the impugned judgment by asserting that the period of two years prescribed under Section 11A of the Act should be coun