ORDER :

1. These writ petitions relate to, on the one hand, payment of lease rent of the land in question being claimed by the petitioners from the Department of Civil Aviation and on the other hand, a challenge raised to the acquisition of the same land which came to be acquired in terms of the TAMIL NADU ACQUISITION OF LAND FOR INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES ACT , 1997 (in short “1997 Act”).

2. The ancestors of the present land owners/petitioners had leased out the land to the Department of Defence, Government of India, under a lease agreement dated 08.08.1942 during the period of Second World War. The lands are situate in Villages Singanallur and Kalapatti of Coimbatore District, that was utilized as an Aerodrome and later on transferred to the Department of Civil Aviation in the year 1947. The petitioners contend that there was a big default in payment of lease rent, and even the subsequent transfer of the said land to the Airport Authority of India. Ultimately after protests, a tripartite agreement was arrived at in a meeting convened on 22.08.2006, whereupon it was agreed that a lease rent of 5% of the land cost would be payable subject to re-valuation of the land at regular intervals, whereafter there was a partial release of rent, but after the proceedings of the land acquisition were undertaken, the arrears of lease rent as well as the future lease rent remained unpaid.

3. The State Government, vide G.O.Ms. No. 259, Transport (I-2) Department, dated 4.10.2019 accorded an administrative sanction for acquiring/transfer of the land to an extent of 612.97 acres, later on revised as 624.85 acres and a re-revised administrative sanction in April, 2017 for 490.27 acres in the villages of Kalapatti, Singanallur, Uppillipalayam, Neelambur and Irugur for the purpose of expansion of Coimbatore Airport runway. The acquisition process was initiated as per the 1997 Act read with the TAMIL NADU ACQUISITION OF LAND FOR INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES RULES , 2001 (in short “2001 Rules”).

4. The 1997 Act provides for a procedure to call upon the owner or any other person interested in the land to show-cause within a specified time as to why the land should not be acquired. This is to be accompanied by a public notice as well that may be prescribed. The prescription is provided for a show cause notice under Rule 3 of the 2001 Rules and public notice under Rule 4 thereof. After hearing of the objections, orders are to be passed by the Government and the acquisition takes place in terms of Section 3 of the 1997 Act. Upon acquisition and the notification published in the Government Gazette under Section 3 of the 1997 Act, the land is to vest in Government free from all encumbrances under Section 4 of the Act. In the instant case, the show cause notice and the public notice in terms of Section 3 (2) came to be issued on different dates on 22.4.2011 and 30.4.2011. The Gazette notification of the acquisition under Section 3 (1) followed thereafter, that was published on different dates on 10.1.2013, 13.10.2015 and 18.8.2015.

5. It is at this stage that the litigation commenced with representations being moved claiming compensations as well as arrears of lease rents.

6. From the record and the compilation of typed set of papers, we find information being exchanged with regard to payment of the lease rent, and its delay was questioned by the Secretary of the Revenue Department vide l