IMPORTANT POINT
Land, once acquired, cannot be restored to tenure holders/persons-interested even if it is not used for the purpose for which it was so acquired.

Alpesh Y. Kogje, J.

1. Present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is filed praying for the relief of declaration that the acquisition of the lands of the petitioners pursuant to the award dated 27.02.1978/28.02.1978 has lapsed in view of Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (hereinafter to be referred as "the Act of 2013"). Petitioners have also prayed for release of their respective lands from the acquisition in view of Section 24 of the Act of 2013.

2. Facts in brief necessary for the present case and as emerging on the record are as under:-

2.1 The petitioners claim to be original owners/occupiers/legal heirs of the owners of various lands situated in village Bhat, Dist. Gandhinagar. These lands were sought to be acquired for construction of Narmada river water project, for which acquisition proceedings were carried out in the year 1978. From the record it appears that Section 4 notifications of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter to be referred as "the old Act") are dated 31.01.1963 and 05.01.1967. Section 6 notification are dated 03.01.1969 and 06.01.1969 and award under Section 11 is dated 27.02.1978/28.02.1978.

2.2 It appears that somewhere in the year 1978, Special Tribunal set up for the purpose of Narmda project gave a direction for change of alignment of canal, pursuant to which path of the canal was deviated and the canal was constructed as per the new alignment and therefore, the lands of the petitioners remained unutilized for the purpose of canal. Thus, after the acquisition was completed, the land could not be used for the purpose for which it was acquired due to changed circumstances.

2.3 It appears that for these very lands, some previous litigations were also filed before this Court and disposed of. However, for the purpose of this case, it may not be necessary to refer to those litigations except for one being Special Civil Application No. 15030 of 2012, to which at appropriate stage, reference would be made.

2.4 It appears that on 15.03.1978, possession of the lands in question was taken by the acquiring body and between April 1978 to October 1978, process of making payment of compensation so determined was carried out.

2.5 It appears that after possession was taken over, original land owners /occupiers made application seeking permission to carry out agricultural activities on the lands so acquired on yearly basis ("ek sali") Such permission was granted. However, in the revenue records, particularly village form No. 6, entry was mutated in favour of the acquiring body - Sardar Sarovar Narmda Nigam Ltd. ("SSNNLS" for short), respondent No. 4 herein. It appears that references were made by the land holders whose lands were acquired under this acquisition and the references were ultimately decided by judgment and order dated 31.01.1985 passed by the learned Extra Assistant Judge, Ahmedabad (Rural). It appears that pursuant to the judgment in references made, payment of compensation was made and received by the land owners.

2.6 It appears that in case of some of the land owners, who claimed additional compensation by invoking Section 28A of the old Act, those persons were also paid such compensation in the year 1993.

2.7 Relevant development which took place in the year 2007 was that draft TP scheme No. 80 (Bhat-Sughad) came to be implemented whereby lands acquired by SSNNL came to be allotted final plot Nos. 18/a and 18/2. Similarly, TP scheme No. 238 (Bhat-Sughad) was also implemented, wherein lands acquired by SSNNL were allotted final plot No. 78.

2.8 It appears that an attempt was made by the petitioners by filing Special Civil Application No. 15030 of 2012 praying inter alia for issuance of an appropriate writ, declaring action of the respondents to allot the lands to GIDC as illegal and further prayed for return or re-allotment of the lands back to the petitioners. This petition was dis