A. Gopal Reddy, J.

When the writ petitions were taken up for hearing by a learned single Judge of this court, learned counsel for the respondents relied upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in State of Karnataka v. Sangappa Dyavappa Biradar to justify the rejection of request of the petitioners for reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short "the Act"). The learned judge felt that according to Sec.11 (2) of the Act prima facie, the agreement must be an agreement reached during the course of the proceedings under the Act and he is of the opinion that the language of Sec. 11 (2) does not permit a construction which takes an agreement anterior to the initiation of the land acquisition proceedings within the sweep of the said sub-section. The above judgment does not deal with the specific question of the construction of Section 11 (2) of the Act, and the matter requires an authoritative pronouncement by a Bench of appropriate strength, and therefore directed the Registry to place these matters before the Honourable the Chief Justice for appropriate orders. In pursuance of the said order, the matters were, thus, listed before us.

2.The facts giving rise to filing of the present writ petitions briefly stated as under:

The petitioner in W.P.No.28882 of 1995 is a Guddimalkapur Co-operative Housing society, Hyderabad registered under the A.P. Co-operative Societies Act (herein after referred to as "the Society"). The society purchased some land in S.Nos.311 and 312 in Guddimalkapur Village, Golconda Mandal, Hyderabad District in the year 1965 with the object of developing the same and allotting plots for its members. It is asserted that the Society developed a portion of the land and obtained lay-out from the authority and allotted certain plots to some of its members. Before the members could proceed with the construction work and the society could take up other developmental activities, the respondents sought to acquire the land measuring 4683 sq. yards in S.Nos.311 and 312 for the purpose of forming inner ring road. By virtue of said acquisition proceedings, 14 housing plots i.e., 365 to 370, 381 to 386,413 and 414, measuring 200 sq.yards each i.e., 2800 sq.yards, which were allotted to some of the members, were affected. In the beginning the society resisted the acquisition of the land on the ground that interest of their members will be badly affected. After a long litigation society could get clearance of the land and could allot the plots to its members. If the land of the society is subjected to any acquisition, the developmental activities of the society will be badly affected. Even before any proceedings could be initiated under the Act, the respondents prevailed upon the society to part with the above land and promised to release the entire compensation amount in lump sum at the time of passing final order within a period of two months and after due negotiations they agreed to pay compensation at the rate of Rs.80/- per sq. yard in lump sum and took possession of the land on 10-11-1985 followed by publication of the notification under Section 4(1) of the Act on 16-11-1985 in the A.P. Gazette. On issuance of the notification, Society participated in the award enquiry and requested the respondents to complete all the formalities by passing the award including payment of compensation. But the respondents instead of completing the formalities as per the agreed terms delayed the matter. In view of the same, the society requested the respondents to release the compensation amount so as to enable it to negotiate with the plot holders. As the respondents did not pay the same, the society requested for payment of compensation in respect of the undisputed land measuring 2483.63 sq.yards, which includes plot Nos.367, 384 and 385. As the respondents declined to pay the compensation on the ground of alleged title dispute, the society had no other alternative except to withdraw their consent for acquiri