MR.JUSTICE D.H.WAGHELA

1. Four petitioners, the first of whom has passed away and whose two daughters are brought on record, have invoked Articles 14, 19 (1) (g), 21 and 300-A of the Constitution for the prayers that the award dated 14.02.1991 of I/C Officer on Special Duty (Land Acquisition) be set aside on the ground that delay has vitiated the acquisition and it has lapsed, with the consequential relief of setting aside notices dated 20.12.2003 under sections 11 (2) and 12 (2) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Since the impugned award dated 14.02.1991 is made in respect of various parcels of land acquired for the purpose of expansion of industrial estate of respondent No.3, Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), and the present dispute is raised in respect of lands of only three block numbers, the challenge is taken to be restricted to acquisition of those three parcels of land bearing Survey Nos.265, 204 and 267/1 of Block Nos.284, 268 and 273, comprising total 26,886 sq. mtrs. Situated at village Sachin, district Surat, out of the total 11,23,238 sq. mtrs. of land acquired for GIDC. Initially, while issuing notice herein on 29.12.2003, ad-interim relief was granted restraining respondents Nos.2 and 3 from taking possession of the land of the petitioners pursuant to the said notice dated 20.12.2003. After appearance of and hearing the respondents, petition was admitted and ad-interim relief was confirmed on 03.09.2004 in view of the fact that possession of the land was with the petitioners till that date. Rule was, however, made returnable on 06.10.2004.2. The undisputed facts of the case are that notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, the Act ) was published in the Official Gazette on 11.02.1988 for acquiring nearly 11 hectares of land for expansion of GIDC Industrial Estate. Even prior to that, GIDC had agreed to allot 11,23,238 sq. mtrs. of land to Diamond & Gem Development Corporation (D&GDC), which has subsequently joined herein as respondent No.4. Out of the land agreed to be transferred to D&GDC, 9,76,777 sq. mtrs. of land acquired earlier were already handed over by GIDC to D&GDC on as is where is basis at the rate of Rs.20.40 ps. per sq. mtr; and for the remaining parcel of land, acquisition in question was initiated in the name of GIDC. Notification under section 6 was published on 01.02.1989. At that stage, the petitioners had approached this Court by way of Special Civil Application No.2666 of 1989 to challenge the acquisition and that petition was dismissed on 15.4.1991, rejecting the contentions that the lands already acquired were unused and some lands were released from acquisition after the notification under section 4 of the Act.

2.1 The Land Acquisition Officer (OSD) proceeded with the acquisition and issued notice under section 9 of the Act on 15.02.1989. The other land-holders, excepting the petitioners, handed over possession of the land to GIDC after accepting advance compensation on 26.06.1989, whereas the petitioners were sought to be served notice under sections 9 (3) and 9 (4) by RPAD, according to the respondents. On the other hand, the petitioners made representations to the State Government not to acquire their lands. Deputy Secretary of Revenue Department, by his letter dated 30.01.1991 addressed to the OSD, practically rejected the representations and directed that the draft award in respect of the lands in question was approved and in case of dispute, the amount of compensation should be deposited in the Court under the provisions of section 30/31 of the Act. He further clearly and categorically directed that the awards may be declared but possession was not to be taken. It is specifically averred in the further affidavit dated 21.3.2007 of the OSD that: .......When the authorities have not taken possession because of the representation before the Hon'ble Minister, the petitioners may not be permitted to contend that not taking ov