J.B.PARDIWALA

As common questions of fact and law are involved in the above captioned batch of petitions, they were all heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment and order.

2. It would be expedient to state that all writ petitions except the main writ petition being Writ Petition (PIL) No.19 of 2011 were before the respective learned Single Judge of this Court, but while hearing Writ Petition (PIL) No.19 of 2011, we noticed that the subject matter of all other writ petitions referred to above is the same and directly connected with the subject matter of Writ Petition (PIL) No.19 of 2011 and, therefore, with a view to avoid any conflicting judgment coming on record, we thought fit to hear the other petitions also together. Accordingly, all Special Civil Applications were clubbed and were heard with the main Writ Petition (PIL) No.19 of 2011.

3. The petitioner – Khetshi Hirji Shah, a native of village Adhoi situated in Kutch District, and at present settled in Mumbai, by way of this Public Interest Litigation under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, has brought to the notice of this Court serious illegalities and irregularities at the end of the respondents, more particularly, Adhoi Gram Panchayat in dealing with and squandering away 100 acres of open land which was acquired by the State of Gujarat under the Land Acquisition Act for the purpose of rehabilitation of the earthquake victims.

4. This petition depicts extremely sorry state of affairs at the end of the State Government and its officers for the simple reason that timely action on the part of the State authorities could have saved the land being squandered away by the Panchayat. Land which was acquired for the purpose of rehabilitation of the earthquake victims has been used by different individuals and so-called charitable institutions for construction of temples, bungalows, flats, residential complexes, etc.

5. The case made out by the writ-petitioner may be summed up thus :

1. On 26th January 2001 the State of Gujarat witnessed one of the worst natural calamities in the form of a devastating earthquake rendering lacs of people homeless and claiming lives of thousands of people. The District of Kutch was the worst affected area being the epicenter of earthquake. Almost the entire region of Kutch got destroyed and the maximum casualties were also in the District of Kutch. One of the towns named Adhoi was severely affected rendering almost all inhabitants of the town and the surrounding areas homeless. From all parts of the country helping hand was extended to meet with the situation and at that point of time, the Government of Maharashtra also extended its helping hand by declaring that it would help the town of Adhoi by providing necessary funds to reconstruct the houses and other structures which got destroyed during the earthquake. For this purpose, the Government of Maharashtra entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Gujarat. The Government of Maharashtra decided to support rehabilitation and reconstruction initiative in partnership with the Government of Gujarat as per the Government guidelines. The Government of Maharashtra agreed to bear 100% expenditure excluding the land cost. Pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding the Government of Gujarat acquired 300 acres of land at a cost of more than Rs.1 crore. About 200 acres of land was utilized by the Government for building houses for the earthquake affected persons and around 100 acres of land remained surplus.

2. Record reveals that the acquisition proceedings etc. were undertaken by the State of Gujarat, for which the necessary funds came from the Government of Maharashtra. As per the original plan as well as the award which was published under Section 11(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, 1900 residential houses were to be constructed including hospitals, schools, panchayat building, anganwadi, community hall, etc. In all 119.55 hectares of land w