ORDER :

N. Anand Venkatesh, J.

1. This writ petition has been filed for the issue of a Writ of Declaration to declare that the land acquisition proceedings relating to the subject property has lapsed by virtue of the operation of the provisions contained in Section 24[2] of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 [hereinafter called as "The Act"].

2. The case of the petitioners is that the subject property situated at SF. No. 6/2A, measuring to an extent of 1.82 acres at Vellakinaru Village, Coimbatore District, originally belonged to the father-in-law of the 1st petitioner, viz., Thiru. Palani Gounder [late] and after his lifetime, the property devolved on the husband of the 1st petitioner. After his death, the 1st petitioner and her son/2nd petitioner herein, inherited the subject property. The revenue records also stood in their names. The further case of the petitioners is that the property in question is an agricultural land.

3. The subject property along with a large extent of lands were acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 [hereinafter called as "the 1894 Act"] for the formation of Vellakinaru Neighbourhood Scheme. Section 4[1] Notification was issued on 18.12.1996 and Section 6 Declaration was made on 24.12.1997. The Award enquiry was conducted under Section 11 of the 1894 Act and the Award was passed on 13.12.1999. The specific case of the petitioners is that they were never served with any notice at any stage of the proceedings even though they are the record tenure holders of the land in question. The petitioners further state that when the acquisition proceedings were started, there was a lot of resistance on the ground that fertile agricultural lands are being taken away and the petitioners were under the impression that the entire proceedings has been abandoned and the petitioners continued to utilise the lands for agricultural purposes. To substantiate the same, the Patta and Adangal extract have been filed, which shows that that names of the petitioners continued to be recognised as the notified owners of the subject property.

4. The officials belonging to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board [TNHB] came to the subject property and informed the petitioners that the property has already been acquired by the Government and the possession has been handed over to the TNHB and they wanted to proceed further to implement a project. It also came to the notice of the petitioners that the TNHB has issued a Tender Notification on 03.06.2020 inviting tenders for development of the Housing Scheme in the subject property. The petitioners also came to understand that the patta has been transferred in the name of the TNHB by virtue of the orders passed by the 5th respondent on 15.06.2020. A Public Notice was also issued by the Town and Country Planning Authority, Coimbatore with regard to the change of user of land from agricultural to residential and objections were called for from the general public. According to the petitioners, it is only at this point of time, they came to understand that an Award has been passed behind their back and the petitioners were kept in the dark for so many years and neither compensation was paid to them nor the possession was taken from them.

5. Aggrieved by the action taken by the respondents, the present writ petition has been filed for the issue of a writ of Declaration to declare that the entire land acquisition proceedings with regard to the subject properties as lapsed by virtue of the operation of provision under Section 24[2] of the Act.

6. The 3rd respondent has filed counter affidavit and the relevant portions in the counter affidavit are extracted hereunder:-

"6. It is submitted that the dry lands in SF. No. 6/2A to an extent of 1.82 acres of lands possession which vested with the Government and taken over by the La