JUDGMENT :

A.S. Bopanna, J.

1. The irony in all these cases is that the appellants are land losers who have been divested from their land either fully or in part to construct an Express Highway over such land for the benefit of others to travel fast but the process to compensate them with a just and fair quantum of money instead of being on the fast track, has been tardy. It is a couple of years short of two decades from the date of the preliminary notification and the appellants are still litigating to receive what is rightfully due to them.

2. These appeals even otherwise have a chequered history. The appellants are before this Court for the second time. The lands which were owned by the appellants formed a part of the lands that were notified under Section 4 read with Section 17 (2) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short ‘Act, 1894’) by the Haryana Government Industries Department. The preliminary notification was issued on 11.01.2005 and the declaration under Section 6 of Act, 1894 was made on 31.05.2005. The purpose for which the lands were acquired is for the construction of Express Highway Phase VII connecting National Highway No.1, 10, 8 and 2 in village Sultanpur, Sub-T