Judgment :-

R.M. LODHA, J.

The judgment of the Delhi High Court dated July 9, 2007 is impugned in this appeal.

2. It is the case of the respondents that there was requirement of houses for nearly 8 lakh persons within the reach of common man in Delhi. To meet the shortage of housing accommodation, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) sought requisition of the land for its scheme known as "Rohini Residential Scheme" (hereinafter referred to as "the Scheme"). The said Scheme was initially planned in three phases -Phases I, II, and III. The three phases in the Scheme were developed. Even then, the acute shortage of houses in the city of Delhi continued. Accordingly, the plan for development of Rohini Phases IV and V was formulated.

3. On the requisition of the DDA, on October 27, 1999, a Notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short "the Act") was issued indicating that land stated therein was likely to be required by the Government of Delhi for the public purpose namely; Rohini Residential Scheme, Delhi. In the said Notification, it was also mentioned that Lt. Governor, Delhi was satisfied that provisions of sub-section (1) of Section 17 of the Act were applicable to the land mentioned in the Notification and he was pleased under sub-section (4) of Section 17 to direct that all the provisions of Section 5A of the Act would not apply.

4. On April 3, 2000, a declaration was made by the Government of Delhi under Section 6 of the Act stating that the land mentioned therein was acquired for the public purpose namely; Rohini Residential Scheme.

5. Another notification of the same date was issued under Section 7 of the Act directing the Land Acquisition Collector, Narela to take orders for acquisition of the said land and take possession of the land mentioned therein.

6. The appellant in the present appeal claims to be the owner of the land ad-measuring 14 Bighas 18 Biswas in Khasra Nos. 22 and 39 of Village Shahbad-Daulatpur after the said land came to be donated to it by the erstwhile owners. The appellant further claims that a school has been set up on the above land which imparts education to a large number of students. The appellant challenged the acquisition of the above land which forms part of the above notifications before the Delhi High Court. Large number of other Writ Petitions also came to be filed before the High Court challenging the above notifications.

7. Before the High Court, diverse grounds in challenging the acquisition of the subject land were set up; two of such grounds being that Lt. Governor has not applied his mind for dispensation of the enquiry under Section 5A of the Act and that resort to the urgency provisions contained in Section 17 of the Act was unwarranted and unjustified.

8. The respondents contested the group of Writ Petitions and justified their action including invocation of urgency clause and dispensation of the enquiry under Section 5A of the Act.

9. The Division Bench of the High Court, on hearing the parties, was not persuaded by the contentions of the appellant and the other writ petitioners which formed part of the group matters and dismissed the Writ Petitions being devoid of merit on July 9, 2007. It is from this judgment that the present appeal has arisen.

10. The High Court in the impugned judgment noticed the contentions of the Writ Petitioners in paragraph 2 as follows:

"The contention of the petitioners is that the Lt. Governor had not specifically authorised invocation of Section 17(4) of the stridently Land Acquisition Act and that this is all the more significant since the draft of the Notification placed before him adverts to Section 17(4). According to the petitioners, the only inference that can be drawn is that the Lt. Governor did not approve of dispensing with the petitioners valuable rights to object to the acquisition. The further contention is that since the petitioners have not been permitted to avail of their rights to file object