JUDGMENT :

(Prayer in W.P.No.33868 of 2013: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for the issuance of a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, to call for the records of the impugned notice issued by the third respondent bearing Rc.No.13/2013/ORR/Kancheepuram dated 12.09.2013, published in the English daily the New Indian Express dated 24.09.2013 under the provisions of Section 15(2) of the Tamil Nadu Highways Act, 2001 and quash the same and thereon forbear the respondents from any manner interfering with the possession and occupation of the land belonging to the petitioners under the guise of land acquisition comprised in survey No.204/1 part, survey No.204/2A (part), survey No.205/2A, survey No.205/1A, land situated in 62, Malayambakkam Village, Sriperumbudur Taluk, Kancheepuram)

1. All the Writ Petitions have been filed challenging the acquisition proceedings initiated by the respondents under the provisions of Section 15(2) of the Tamil Nadu Highways Act, 2001 as amended under act 34 of 2012 (herein after called as “the Act”), and thereon forbear the respondents from any manner interfering with the possession and occupation of the land belonging to the petitioners, on various grounds.

2. The Government of Tamil Nadu have decided to form an outer ring road joining the southern, western and northern parts of Chennai city for a total length of 60.15 Kms road being constructed in two phase around the Chennai Metropolitan area in Tamil Nadu. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority acquired the lands for the first phase and took possession of lands to a length of 29.65 Kms from Vandalur Village in Kancheepuram District to Nemilichery village in Tiruvallur District crossing the National Highways road NH-45 at Vandalur, NH-4 at Nazarathpettai and NH-205 in Nemilichery village in Tiruvalluvar District covering 15 villages in Kancheepuram and 14 villages in Tiruvallur District.

3. The Government of Tamil Nadu, by G.O.Ms.No.199, Highways and Minor Ports (HH-2) Department, dated 04.12.2012, have accorded Administrative Sanction for acquisition of private lands and transfer of Government lands required for providing project facilities such as interchanges, bus bays, truck lay byes, junction improvements and wayside amenities in Chennai outer ring road, phase-I under the provisions of the Act and the Tamil Nadu Highways Rules, 2003 (herein after called as “the Rules”) framed thereunder and appointed the District Revenue Officer (LA), ORR, Chennai as Land Acquisition Officer to perform the functions of the Government/Collector. Accordingly, the Special Tahsildar, Land Acquisition published notice under Section 15(2) of the Act on 26.05.2013 and also in the locality on 29.05.2013 as required under Rule 5 of the Rules. The entire acquisition proceedings have been challenged under these Writ Petitions on various grounds.

4. The grounds raised by the petitioners by their respective counsels in all Writ Petitions as follows :-

W.P.No.11801 of 2014 :-

The learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in W.P.No.11801 of 2014 submitted that the notice issued by the fourth respondent to the petitioners’ father under Section 15(2) of the Act is bad in law for the reason that the Act contemplates under Chapter III Section 8 speaks about the construction and development later under the same Section there should be an notification under the sub-section regarding a draft notification after getting objections from the petitioners. The Sub Clause 2 of Section 8 contemplates the benefits under a & b regarding acquisition and under Sub Clause 3 & 4 of Section 8 of the Act speaks about the details of preliminary notification and the proposed building lines and control line. Further, Sections 9 to 14 of the Act have not been followed by the respondents.

4.1. He further submitted that the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette notification under Section 15(1) of the Act was issued on 29.01.2014 in G.O.Ms.213, Highways and Minor Ports (N