The court emphasized that the acquisition proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act were not vitiated due to lack of proper newspaper publication and the approval of the award by an incompetent authority.

This writ petition is filed to quash the notification under section 4(1) and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act (Central Act I of 1994) issued in G.O. Ms.No.3(D) 407 Adi Dravidar Tribal Welfare dt.16. 1992 and G.O. Ms.No.3(D) 352 Adi Dravidar tribal Welfare dt.15. 1995.

2. The case of the writ petitioner is as follows:

The writ petitioner owns 0.42.0 hectare in survey No.88/ 1-A in Thirukanancheri village, Thirvallur Taluk, Chengalput District. The second respondent Special Tahsildar, initiated proceedings for the acquisition of petitioners land and the lands of another for providing house sites to the Arunthathiar families of Thirukanancheri Village. The said proposal was approved by the first respondent in G.O. Ms.3(D) No.407 Adi Dravidar Tribal Welfare dt.16. 1992. The said notification was published in Government Gazette dt.7. 1992. The petitioner sent his representation to the second respondent objecting to the proposed acquisition. According to the petitioner no proper enquiry was held under Section 5(A) of the Land Acquisition Act 1894. Based on the vitiated enquiry and the report sent by the second respondent to the first respondent, the first respondent issued Sec. 6 declaration in G.O. Ms.3(D) No.352 Adi Dravidar Tribal Welfare dt.15. 1993 challenging 4(1) notification and section 6 declaration, the above writ petition has been filed for the aforesaid relief.

3. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr.Dhandapani, learned Special Government Pleader for the first and second respondents and the learned counsel for the respondents 3 to 24. I have also gone through the documents and judgments referred to by them in support of their submissions.

4. The learned counsel for the petitioner assails the acquisition proceedings mainly on two grounds viz., 4(1) notification has been published in ATHISTAM and MAKKAL KURAL newspapers and these newspapers are not in circulation in that village and the award which was passed, pending the writ petition was approved only by the District Revenue Officer (hereinafter called as "D.R.O.") who is an incompetent authority and under section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act, the District Collector alone is a competent authority to approve every award in which total compensation to be allowed does not exceed Rs.10 lakhs.

5. The first ground viz., publishing the 4(1) notification in the newspapers which are not in wide circulation in that area was raised at the time of filing the writ petition itself and the second ground of approving the award by incompetent authority was raised in W.P.M.P. NO.23969 of 2003. Since it is a legal ground, I permit the writ petitioner to raise this ground and accordingly W.P.M.P. No.23969 of 2003 is allowed.

6. In support of the first ground viz., publishing the 4(1) notification in the newspapers are not widely circulated in that area, the learned counsel for the petitioner relied on the following decisions.

1) 2001(4) CTC 108 (V.Krishnan Vs Government of Tamilnadu Rep. By its Secretary, Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Dept., Fort George, Madras 9 and 2 others)

2) 2002(1) CTC 28 (Arumugha Mudaliar S/o Angappa Mudaliar Rep. By the Power of Attorney Agent V.K. Chellakutti, S/o Krishna Gounder, Coimbatore Vs The State of Tamilnadu Rep. By the Secetary to Government Housing and Urban Development Dept., Fort St. George, Madras 9 and another)

3) 2002(4) CTC 288 (K. Subbia Gounder and 8 others Vs The State of Tamilnadu Rep. By its Secretary to Government, Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Dept., Fort George, Madras 9 and another)

7. The learned counsel for the petitioner relies on the decisions of this Court reported in 1999 (III) CTC 715 (T.Paramaraj Vs State of TamilNadu Rep. by the Secretary to Government, Industries Department, Fort St. George, Madras 9 and another) and 2006

(1) M.L.J. 244 (N.D.Ramanujam and others Vs State of Tamil Nadu Rep. by its Secretary to Government, Revenue Dept., Chennai and others) in support of the second ground viz., the awa