JUDGMENT

G. S. Singhvi, J.-These appeals are directed against two sets of judgments and orders passed by the Division Benches of the Karnataka High Court whereby the acquisition of lands by the State Government for the benefit of the appellant was quashed. Civil Appeal Nos. 7425-26/2002 are directed against judgment dated 16.03.1998 passed by the High Court in Writ Appeal No. 9913/1996 and order dated 09.07.1999 passed in Civil Petition No. 366/1998. Civil Appeal Nos. 774-78/2005 are directed against judgment dated 06.02.2004 passed in Writ Appeal No. 4246/1998, C/W W.A. No. 6039/1998 and orders dated 11.02.2004 and 15.09.2004 passed in I.A. No. 1 for rectification in Writ Appeal No. 4246/1998, C/W W.A. No. 6039/1998 and Review Petition Nos. 166 and 170 of 2004, respectively.

2. Although, the High Court quashed the acquisition proceedings mainly on the grounds of violation of the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, `the 1894 Act') and the manipulations made by the appellant through the Estate Agent for acquiring the land, during the pendency of these appeals the parties filed voluminous papers and arguments were advanced by both the sides by relying upon those documents as 3 also the records summoned by the Court from the State Government.

3. For appreciating the contentions of the parties in a correct perspective, it will be useful to notice the events which culminated in the acquisition of the lands belonging to the private respondents and others.

3.1 Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) was constituted by the State Government under Section 3 of the Bangalore Development Authority Act, 1976, (for short, `the 1976 Act'), which was enacted by the State legislature for ensuring planned development of the City of Bangalore and areas adjacent thereto. In terms of Section 15 of the 1976 Act, the BDA is empowered to draw up detailed schemes for the development of the Bangalore Metropolitan Area and with the previous approval of the Government, undertake works for the development of the Bangalore Metropolitan Area and incur expenditure therefor. Under Section 15(2), the BDA can take up new or additional development schemes either on its own or on the recommendations of the Local Authority or as per the directions of the State Government. Section 16 lays down that every development scheme shall, within the limits of the area comprised in the scheme, provide among other things for the acquisition of any land necessary for or affected by the execution of the scheme. Section 16(3) lays down that the scheme may provide for construction of houses. Sections 17 and 18 contain the procedure for finalization and sanction of the scheme. Section 19 provides for the acquisition of land for the purposes of the Scheme.

3.2 In exercise of the powers vested in it under Section 15 and other relevant provisions of Chapter III of the 1976 Act, the BDA has been preparing the development schemes and forming layouts for the purpose of allotment of houses/plots to various sections of the society.

3.3 Due to unprecedented increase in the population of Bangalore City (by 1981, the population of the Bangalore City had swelled to 29.13 lakhs), the State Government realized that it may not be possible for the BDA to meet the demand of developed residential sites and, therefore, it was decided to encourage formation of private layouts which is permissible under Section 32 of the 1976 Act, by the house building cooperative societies (for short, `the housing societies'). For this purpose the existing guidelines, which were being followed by the erstwhile City Improvement Trust Board and the BDA for the approval of private layouts were revised vide Circular No. HUD 260 MNX 82 dated 3.3.1983, the relevant portions of which are extracted below:

"1. The area proposed for a layout should be within the residential zone of the Outline Development Plan/Comprehensive Development Plan approved by Government. In special cases where lands are reserved