ORDER :- ISMAIL, J.

These Writ Petitions raise a common question. Having regard to the nature of the question raised, it is not necessary to refer to the facts in detail and it is enough, if the broad facts are stated for the purpose of appreciating the question raised. Manali village in Chingleput Taluk, Chingleput District, was an inam village which became an estate under the Tamil Nadu Estates Land Act, 1908 by virtue of the Tamil Nadu Estates Land (Third Amendment) Act, 1936 (Tamil Nadu Act XVIII of 1936). For the purposes of the Madras Refineries Ltd., a major portion of the lands in the said village was notified to be acquired under the provisions of the Land Aquisition Act. 1894, hereinafter referred to as the Act. The notification under Section 4 (1) of the Act was published in all these cases in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette on 3-2-1965. The declaration under Section 6 of the Act was published in the Gazette on 9-6-1965. Under the provisions of Section 17 (1) of the Act, possession was taken on different dates even before the passing of the award.

2. The Tamil Nadu Legislature had enacted the Tamil Nadu Inam Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1963 (Tam

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