JUDGMENT :

ANUP JAIRAM BHAMBHANI, J.

1. The essential question that arises for consideration in the present matters is whether the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, now the North Delhi Municipal Corporation ("Municipal Corporation" for short) can widen a road by utilising a parcel of land from a plot owned by a private party, without acquiring such land and without paying any compensation to the owner. A relevant consideration, in the context of which the question must be answered, is that the land is situate in what was to begin with an "unauthorised colony", which was subsequently "regularised" under a regularisation policy of the Central Government.

2. There are three petitioners before this court, in three separate writ petitions filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India; and these three petitioners claim to be owners of plots of lands from which a total area of about 450 square feet ("subject land" for short) has been sought to be carved-out and taken-over to be used to widen a road that runs through the colony from its existing 65 feet Right-of-Way (RoW) to 100 feet RoW. The contesting respondent in the three petitions is the Municipal Corporation. Although in W.P. (C) No. 8859/2011 the Government of NCT of Delhi and the Union of India (through the Land Acquisition Collector) are also party-respondents, the matter has been contested in the main only on behalf of the MCD.

3. As per the averments made in the petitions, the petitioner in W.P.(C) No. 8859/2011 Smt. Sarita Gupta owns a portion of plot No. 39, Friends Enclave, Sultan Puri Road, Delhi; the petitioner in W.P.(C) No. 8867/2011 Smt. Pushpa Devi is owner of a different, though un-demarcated portion, of plot No. 39; and Sh. Tilak Raj Jain, the petitioner in W.P.(C) No. 1601/2012 is owner of plot No. 40 in the same colony.

4. Plots Nos. 39 and 40 are comprised in Khasra No. 5/25/2 admeasuring about 2 bighas in Village Nangloi Jat, New Delhi, all of which was originally "agricultural" land. The petitioners claim ownership of their respective parcels of land by transfer of title/possession from the original owner, one Sh. Ram Singh. While there appears to be some ambiguity as regards the exact demarcation of the parcels of land owned by the petitioners, which issue cannot be adjudicated upon in the present writ proceedings, there is no dispute that the subject land which is sought to be taken-over by the Municipal Corporation for widening of the road falls within Khasra No. 5/25/2, from which several smaller plots and parcels of land have been carved-out. It may also be noted here that the land that is subject matter of W.P.(C) No. 8859/2011 and W.P. (C) No. 8867/2011 is still in possession of the respective owners/petitioners ; whereas possession of the land that is the subject matter of W.P.(C) No. 1601/2012 has already been taken by the respondent and certain constructed portions demolished, for which reason the petitioner in that writ petition is seeking restoration of possession and reconstruction of a shop and room that existed there earlier.

5. While the colony in which the parcels of land are situate has been settled for a long time under the name "Friends Enclave", it is the admitted position that the said colony was, to begin with, an "unauthorised" colony, that is to say, the colony was settled without requisite permissions and approvals from municipal and governmental authorities under applicable laws. The colony was subsequently regularised under a Regularisation Scheme for Approval of Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi dated 16.02.1977 ("Regularisation Scheme" for short) framed by the Ministry of Works & Housing, Government of India ("Ministry" for short). The colony came to be regularised by Resolution No. 1030 dated 11.01.1984 passed by the Standing Committee of the then Municipal Corporation of Delhi ("Resolution" for short) whereby a regularisation