These writ petitions pertain to land bearing Sy.No.103 of Nagarabhavi Village, Yeshwanthpur Hobli, Bengaluru North Taluk, totally measuring four acres thirty guntas (hereinafter referred to as “land in question”). Originally, the said land belonged to one Muniveerappa. Muniveerappa sold two acres in favour of G. Chennarayappa under a registered sale deed dated 09/10/1978. He is one of the petitioners in W.P.Nos.18876/2016 & 18948-18950/2016. The remaining land measuring two acres thirty guntas was retained by Muniveerappa and on his demise, his sons M. Muniramaiah and M. Gangadhar became the owners of said land.

2. The reason as to why these writ petitions have been clubbed together are on account of the similar grievances ventilated by the petitioners herein in respect of preliminary notification issued by the Bangalore Development Authority (“BDA” for short) under Section 17(1) of the Bangalore Development Authority Act, 1976 (“BDA Act” for short) dated 15/07/1982 and declaration and final notification issued under Section 19(1) of the BDA Act on 16/08/1985. Hence, these writ petitions have been clubbed together and they have been heard together and are disposed of by this common order.

3. The main prayer in all these writ petitions pertain to, seeking a declaration that the acquisition is deemed to have lapsed under Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as “2013 Act” for the sake of convenience). In addition, in W.P.Nos.15967-15969 of 2017, the petitioners have sought a declaration that the acquisition has lapsed having regard to Section 27 of the BDA Act. Alternatively, they have sought a declaration that endorsement dated 04/12/2014 withdrawing their “no objection” issued vide endorsement dated 11/06/2014 (Annexures “M” and “B”) respectively, by third respondent – Deputy Commissioner (Land Acquisition), BDA as arbitrary, illegal and non est and not binding on the petitioners in any manner and consequently to quash the same. Further a direction is sought to second and fifth respondents in the said writ petitions to act strictly in conformity with endorsement dated 11/06/2014. Further, in W.P.Nos.21193-21195 of 2017, the petitioners who are the very same persons in W.P.Nos.15967-15969 of 2017 have sought quashing of work order bearing No.BDA/EE/HPD-1/TEN/WO/T-19/2016-17 dated 10/03/2017 (Annexure “P”) to the said writ petitions issued by fourth respondent, in favour of sixth respondent in the said writ petitions insofar as it relates to the petition schedule land and they have further sought an order of restraint with regard to altering the nature of the schedule land. At this stage itself, it may be stated that these petitioners have purchased only 37.08 guntas of land in question, which is equivalent to 43,544.82 sq.ft.

4. As already noted, petitioners have sought their respective reliefs on the basis of Section 27 of the BDA Act and/or Section 24(2) of 2013 Act, as the case may be, having regard to the acquisition made by the BDA pursuant to the notifications issued under Sections 17(1) and 19(1) of the BDA Act dated 15/07/1982 and 16/08/1985 respectively.

5. The pleadings in respect of each of these cases could be succinctly stated as under:

(i) W.P.Nos.15967-15969 of 2017:

(a) Petitioners herein are stated to be purchasers of 43,544.82 sq.ft. of the land in question from Muniramaiah and Gangadhar, sons of Muniveerappa, the original owner of the land in question. They have averred that subsequent to the preliminary and final notifications issued by the BDA, an award was passed on 16/05/2002 and the same was approved on 20/05/2002 in respect of the entire extent of land bearing Sy.No.103 of Nagarbhavi village. Copies of the preliminary notification and the final notification are at Annexures “C” and “