BIREN VAISHNAV, J.

1. All these petitions, filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India raise an identical question of law and are based on identical facts. They arise out of proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Since the facts are identical, it would be proper to reproduce prayers in Special Civil Application No. 14340 of 2014, which read as under:

"9(A) YOUR LORDSHIP may be pleased to hold and declare that the acquisition proceedings have lapsed and/or are even otherwise are illegal, contrary to law and vitiated and be further pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other writ, order or direction and thereby be pleased to quash and set aside the acquisition proceedings initiated vide notification no. LAQ Sr 1/2010 and LAQ SR 4/2010 dated 10/03/2010 and the award bearing LAQ case No. 2/2009/Lawarpur, Ratanpur, Shahpur/Vashi 8628/2013 passed by the respondent.

(B) Pending admission, hearing and final disposal of this petition, YOUR LORDSHIP may be pleased to restrain the respondents from taking possession of the land of the petitioners as notified vide notification no. LAQ Sr 1/2010 and LAQ SR 4/2010 dated 10/03/2010 and included in the award bearing LAQ case No. 2/2009/Lawarpur, Ratanpur, Shahpur/Vashi 8628/2013."

2. The facts, in brief, are as under:

2.1 The petitioners, in various petitions, are agriculturists holding various parcels of lands. The villages in which such petitioners own such lands are villages Lavarpur, Shahpur and Ratanpur in Gandhinagar. District. According to the petitioners, notifications under Sections 4, 6 & 9 in each of the villages were issued on the relevant dates which are produced hereunder in a tabular form:

Notification Issued	Date of Notification
Section 4	Lavarpur	Shahpur	Ratanpur
	10.03.2010 29.07.2010  as per Award	18.05.2010 16.08.2010  as per Award	18.05.2010 16.08.2010  as per Award.
Official Gazette	16.03.2010	19.05.2010	19.05.2010
At the Gram Panchayat Office	29.07.2010	16.08.2010	29.07.2010
Collectors Notice Board	03.08.2010	25.08.2010	25.08.2010
Common Notification under Section 6	14.03.2011    * In all three Villages as recorded in the Award they were published in the newspaper on 28.03.2011 and 29.03.2011	14.03.2011	14.03.2011
As per the award under Sections 6 & 9 notices    Hearing Under Section 11(1)	18.07.2011      3.08.2011	14.07.2011     4.08.2011	17.08.2011      5.08.2011
Date of award	14.08.2013	14.08.2013	14.08.2013

2.2 The lands in question of the petitioners were sought to be acquired for upgradation of the existing road for the development of Gandhinagar International Financial Tech City (GIFT City). It is the case of the petitioners that they filed objections under Section 5-A of the Act of 1894 to the acquisitions. The petitioners state that without any report or consideration of objections of the petitioners, straight away, on 14.03.2011, notification under Section 6 was issued, declaring that there was satisfaction that the lands were required for public purpose. Such notifications were published in 'Sandesh' and 'Gujarat Samachar' newspapers on 28.03.2011 and 29.03.2011 respectively.

2.3 According to the petitioners, notices under Section 9 of the Act were issued by the Land Acquisition Officer inviting claims regarding measurement, compensation etc. As stated in the award, hearings of land owners were fixed on 03.08.2011 as far as village Lavarpur is concerned and 04.08.2011 for Shapur village. For Ratanpur, the hearing was fixed on 05.08.2011. In case of Lavarpur, a sample notice under Section 9 for hearing on 03.08.2011 is annexed at page 34 of the paper-book. The petitioners in their petitions have pleaded that nothing was heard from the comp