JUDGMENT :

SURYA KANT, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The appellant-U.P. Avas Evam Vikas Parishad (Board) is aggrieved by the judgment dated 07.10.2015, passed by a Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench, whereby acquisition in respect of Khasra No.673 (mentioned as plot No. 673 in the impugned judgment), situated within the revenue estate of village Hariharpur, Tehsil and District Lucknow, has been quashed on the ground that the respondenttenure holders were not accorded opportunity to submit objections against the proposed acquisition in accordance with Section 29 of the U.P. Avas Evam Vikas Parishad Adhiniyam, 1965 (in short, ‘the 1965 Act’).

3. The 1965 Act was enacted by the State legislature through Act No.1 of 1966 and has, thereafter, been re-enacted by U.P. Act No.30 of 1974, to provide for the establishment, incorporation and functioning of a Housing and Development Board in Uttar Pradesh.

4. Section 28 of the 1965 Act contemplates that when any Housing or Improvement Scheme is framed, the Board shall prepare a notice depicting the boundaries of the area comprised in that Scheme; the details of the land proposed to be acquired and the date by which the objections to the Scheme are to be invited. Such notice is required to be published weekly for three consecutive weeks in the Gazette and two daily newspapers having circulation in the area comprised in the Scheme, at least one of which shall have to be a Hindi newspaper.

5. Section 29 of the 1965 Act provides that the Board shall serve a notice in such form on such persons or classes of persons in the prescribed manner for executing the Scheme.

6. Section 30 of the 1965 Act enables the person on whom a notice under Section 29 has been served to make an objection in writing to the Board against the Scheme or the proposed acquisition or levy, etc. After consideration of such objections, and when the prior sanction from the State Government is obtained, the Scheme shall be notified under Section 32 of the 1965 Act, and it shall come into force therefrom.

7. Section 55 of the 1965 Act confers power to acquire land for implementation of the Scheme under the Act, and it reads as follows:

“55. Power to acquire land.- (1) Any land or any interest therein required by the Board for any of the purposes of this Act, may be acquired under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (Act No. I of 1894), as amended in its application to Uttar Pradesh, which for this purpose shall be subject to the modification specified in the Schedule to this Act.

(2) If any land in respect of which betterment fee has been levied under this Act is subsequently required for any of the purposes of this Act, such levy shall not be deemed to prevent the acquisition of the land under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (Act Ne. I of 1894).”

8. In purported exercise of its powers under Section 28 of the Act, the appellant-Board issued a notice on 17.07.2004 (Annexure P-1) giving a description of the Scheme called as the Sultanpur Road Bhoomi Vikas Evam Grahsthan Yojna at Lucknow. The said notice vividly described the lands/properties which were to fall within the Scheme, the map of the area, particulars of the Scheme and the details of the land which was proposed to be acquired was notified to be available in the Office of the Housing Commissioner. It was further stipulated that the objections to the Scheme shall also be received by the Office of the Housing Commissioner (Land Acquisition Section) within 30 days from the date of publication of the said notification.

9. It is a matter of record that Khasra No.673 at village Hariharpur did not find any mention in the aforesaid notification dated 17.07.2004.

10. The case of the respondents is that Khasra Nos.672 and 673 were mutated in their favour on 10.10.1999, as can be seen from the entries in the revenue record, a copy whereof has been placed on record as Annexure P.6.

11. It is also not in dispute that the tenure holding/ownership of K