1. These petitions are heard and disposed of together. The legal issues arising for consideration are similar.

2. The facts as stated in the petitions may be restated briefly as follows:-

W.P. No. 38868-38870 of 2015

The petitioners are said to be owners of lands bearing survey No. 185 and portions of lands bearing survey No. 176 and 183/1, measuring 8 acres 26 guntas and 1 acre 33 guntas, respectively, of Dattagalli, Kasaba hobli, Mysore Taluk and District. These lands, apart from lands belonging to several others, were said to have been notified for acquisition, for the formation of a residential layout, Dattagalli Extension, by recourse to the provisions of the Karnataka Urban Development Authorities Act, 1987, (Hereinafter referred to as the KUDA Act for brevity). A notification under Section 17(1) of the KUDA Act was said to have been issued and duly published in the Karnataka Gazette, dated 26.12.1991. Thereafter, a notification under Section 19(1) and (2) of the KUDA Act, was also said to have been issued and duly published in the Karnataka Gazette on 7.1.1993.

The petitioners are said to have challenged the acquisition proceedings before this court by way of a writ petition in W.P. No. 27994 of 2001. The said petition is said to have been allowed by a learned single judge of this court by an order dated 15.12.2003. The same was said to have been challenged in a writ appeal in W.A. No. 1863 of 2004. The division bench is said to have set aside the order of the learned single judge and is said to have remanded the matter for a fresh consideration. On such remand, the petition is said to have been dismissed on merits, by an order dated 7.2.2011. A writ appeal in W.A. No. 15445 of 2011, was said to have been filed against the said dismissal order. The appeal was said to have been allowed and remanded for a fresh consideration by a judgment dated 13.9.2012. The learned single judge had then allowed the petition and had quashed the acquisition proceedings by an order dated 10.10.2013. Aggrieved by the said order, the respondents are said to have filed a writ appeal in W.A. No. 6829-6830 of 2013, which is said to be pending consideration.

It is said that with the coming into force of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, (Hereinafter referred to as the LA Act, 2013, for brevity) with effect from 1.1.2014, the petitioners are said to have filed an application in the pending writ appeals, before the division bench, as on 29.8.2015, seeking a declaration that by virtue of Section 24(2) of the LA Act, 2013, the acquisition proceedings in question stood lapsed by efflux of time and by operation of law. The division bench is, however, said to have expressed that such a prayer could only be made by way of a fresh writ petition and hence the present writ petition.

W.P. No. 38871-38874 of 2015

These petitioners are said to be owners of lands bearing survey No. 168 and 169/1 and portions of land in survey Nos. 176 and 183/1 of Dattagalli, Kasaba hobli, Mysore taluk and District. These lands were also the subject matter of acquisition under the very notifications issued in respect of the lands which are the subject matter of the writ petitions in W.P. No. 38868-38870 of 2015, mentioned above, as they are neighbouring lands.

The petitioners herein and the petitioners in the first of these petitions above, have proceeded hand in hand, though in independent petitions and appeals, at all stages, as stated in the writ petition in W.P. No. 38868-38870 of 2015, resulting in the present petitions.

W.P. No. 35858 of 2013 and 35880-35881 of 2013

The petitioners are said to be the owners of lands bearing survey No. 70/7 measuring 14 guntas of Bommanahalli, Begur hobli, Bangalore South taluk. It transpires that acquisition proceedings under the provisions of the Bangalore Devel