The main legal point established is that the continuous possession of land by the petitioners, absence of compensation payment, and redundancy of the acquisition justified the declaration of lapsed proceedings under Section 24(2) of the New Act.

1. The short facts of the case are as follows:-

The petitioners are co-owners of the lands of an extent of 0.81.0 hectares comprised in S.F.No.472/1A and an extent of 1.53.0 hectares of lands in S.F.No.473/2 situated at Vellakinaru Village, Coimbatore. Originally, the above said lands were subjected to land acquisition proceedings along with other lands in that locality initiated under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, herein after called "the Old Act", by the first respondent, viz., the Secretary to Government, Housing and Urban Development for the purpose of Thudiyalur Neighbourhood Scheme sponsored by the second and third respondents herein, viz., the Tamil Nadu Housing Board, represented by its Chairman & Managing Director and the Executive Engineer / Administrative Officer, who is attached to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board Unit, Coimbatore.

2. The notification under Section 4(1) of the Act came to be issued in G.O.Ms.No.319, (Housing and Urban Development Department), on 23.09.1997. The declaration under Section 6 of the Act came to be made in G.O.Ms.No.391 (Housing and Urban Development Department) on 23.10.1998. The said acquisition proceedings culminated in passing of an award in Award No.1 of 2000, dated 25.10.2000. Though the award came to be passed on 25.10.2000, they were neither intimated about the passing of the award nor served with any notice under Section 12(2) of the Old Act, so as to enable them to know about the award and to receive the compensation payable to them. In fact, the compensation was neither paid to them nor deposited before any competent civil Court.

3. The writ petitioners further submit that though the award was made in the year 2001, the respondents 4 and 5 viz., the District Collector, Coimbatore and the Special Tahsildar (Land Acquisition), who is attached to the Housing Scheme Unit, Coimbatore, respectively, never took possession of the lands from the petitioners. When the petitioners sought for information under Right to Information Act regarding the taking of possession and the payment of compensation, the Public Information Officer attached to the office of the first respondent by letter dated 28.11.2013, had informed that there are no records for taking possession of the land from the petitioners by the Land Acquisition Officer. The fifth respondent further informed them that the compensation was not also paid to the petitioners. However, the public information officer while replying to a question for handing over of possession, he furnished a transfer certificate dated 20.11.2000. From that, it could be seen that the Assistant Grade Revenue Officer is said to have handed over possession of lands in respect of the subject land along with other lands to Surveyor in the office of the third respondent, viz., the Executive Engineer / Administrative Officer. However, no records are furnished to show that on which date, the possession of the lands were taken under Section 16 of the Old Act by the fifth respondent, viz., Special Tahsildar, Land Acquisition, from the petitioners. Further, the Assistant Grade Revenue Inspector was not the authority authorized under the Old Act to perform the functions of the District Collector under Section 3(c) of the Old Act. Moreover, with regard to a question of deposit of compensation amount payable to the petitioners, it was replied that the compensation amount was deposited before the civil Court and for that a letter dated 23.11.2000 was furnished. From that letter, it is seen that a deposit was made before the civil Court, which is only relating to S.F.No.473/1 and not in respect of the lands belonging to the petitioners. The petitioners additionally added that in such circumstances, now, the Government of India brought in new Land Acquisition Act, in the place of "Old Act", viz., the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 (Act 30 / 2013), now onwards called the "New Act" and th