S. PARVATHA RAO, J.

( 1 ) SHORT question that arises in these writ petitions is whether the Land Acquisition Officer can refrain from passing the award in respect of the lands under acquisition only on the ground that funds were not made available by the requisitioning authority for payment of compensation to the claimants as per the award that may be passed.

( 2 ) THE petitioners in these various writ petitions are owners of different extents of land in Survey Nos. 102, 115, 133, 134,135, 136, 137, 138, 140/1 and 142/1 of Karmanghat village of Saroornagar mandal in Rangareddy district and in Survey No. 149 of Jullellaguda village of Saroornagar mandal in Rangareddy district. The possession of the said land was taken by the Defence Estate Officer, A. P. Circle at Secunderabad in Nov. 1978 on lease basis under the provisions of the Requisitioning and acquisition of Immovable Property Act, 1952 (for short R. A. I. P. Act ). After the said land together with land in Survey Nos. 101 and 139 of Karmanghat village and Survey No. 148 of Jillellaguda village were taken possession of the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory complex was constructed therein comprising of several buildings and installations.

( 3 ) AFTER a long lapse of time, proceedings were sought to be initiated by the respondents under R. A. I. P. Act and notice to the said effect in J-Form was issued by the District Collector, Rangareddy district in the year 1987. In respect of lands in Survey No. 101 of Karmanghat village and Survey No. 148 of Jillellaguda village, Writ Petition No. 4684 of 1987 was preferred by the owners thereof questioning the proceedings sought to be initiated under the R. A. I. P. Act and for directing the respondents to initiate action under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short L. A. Act) and the said writ petition was allowed by order dated 10-7-1987 granting the reliefs sought for by the petitioners therein and directing the authorities concerned to initiate proceedings under the L. A. Act. It was also contended by the petitioners in the said writ petition that when the said lands were taken over, they were purely agricultural lands and that they were not hit by the provisions of the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 as the master plan was not extended to the said lands at that time. This Court held by its order in the said writ petition that it was not disputed at the time when the lands were requisitioned in the year 1978 that they are outside the master plan and the master plan in respect of the said land was prepared and brought into existence only in the year 1980 and that the petitioners therein were entitled for the issuance of Writ of Mandamus, directing the authorities concerned to issue draft notification under Section 4 (1) of the L. A. Act and to finalise the proceedings including the award proceedings as expeditiously as possible preferably within one year positively from the date of receipt of the said order dated 10-7-1987. It is also observed in the said order of this Court that prior to the purported invoking of R. A. I. P. Act, the authorities concerned sanctioned the acquisition of the said land under the L. A. Act, if necessary, by invoking the urgency clause by dispensing with the enquiry under Section 5a and that curiously, for reasons best known to the authorities, the acquisition proceedings under the L. A. Act were initiated only in respect of the land in Survey No. 139 of Karmanghat village and draft notification under Section 4 (1) was published in respect of the said land on 29-4-1982 and the award was finalised on 29-7-1985.

( 4 ) WRIT Appeal No. 1768 of 1987 preferred by the Special Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition (General), at Hyderabad, the District Collector, Rangareddy district and the Defence Estate Officer, Secunderabad against the order of this Court in Writ Petition No. 4684 of 1987 dated 10-7-1987 was dismissed on 10-11-1988 by a Division Bench of this Court. It is relevant to not

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