Acquisition of land--Acquisition proceedings lapsed in one case because of operation of law; cannot be deemed to continue in other case where stay had been granted.

K.S.Garewal, J.

1. The petitioner-are Sarbhanand Chela Swami Nitya Nand and 5 others. The petitioners case is that Sarbhanand is the Mahant of Gadi Katas Raj Dham and owner of 28 bighas 18 biswas in Gobindpura. Petitioners 2 and 3 own 16 biswas in the said village, while petitioner 4 own 3 bighas 1-2/3 biswas. Petitioners 5 and 6 are also owners of land failing in Gobindpura. The land came within the municipal area of Yamuna Nagar and is connected with electricity, water, road etc.

2. Petitioners land adjoins temples of Vishnu Bhagwan, Shankar Ji. Santoshi Mata, Hanuman Jai and is being used for religious festivals for the past 20 years, langar is also a regular feature. People have great faith in the gaddi of Katas Raj Dham and visit the temple to make offerings.

3. The State of Haryana issued notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) in 1969 intending to acquire land in Gobindpura. The acquisition was for the development of the area but no action was taken and the notification was allowed to lapse.

4. A second notification was issued under Section 4 on June 1, 1974 again for acquisition for development and utilization as residential/commercial area yet again no action was taken and the notification was allowed to lapse.

5. The present notification under Section 4 was issued on December 4, 1980. This the third time when the land was sought to be acquired. The declaration under Section 6 was issued on August 17, 1983 but the notification was not published in the locality, although an entry was made in the Patwaris roznamcha on December 5, 1980 to this effect.

6. The acquisition proceedings were challenged through the present petition filed in February, 1984. Proceedings were stayed on March 6, 1984. The petitioner was later admitted on April 25, 1986.

7. In the written statement filed by the Land Acquisition Collector on September 4, 1984, it was admitted that the petitioners were the owners of the land but petitioner I had sold some land from khasra 1038, 1039 and 1040 and the mutations had been entered in favour of the transferees. It was stated that the only interest of the petitioner was to make a lucrative business by selling plots. It was also submitted that no temple existed on the petitioners land but there was a temple on an adjoining plot. The temple land has been released from acquisition. Petitioner I had recently raised some superstructures on the land in dispute.

8. As regards the two notifications of 1969 and 1974, it was submitted that although no notification was issued in 1969 in respect of the land in dispute, a notification was issued in 1974 which was allowed to lapse as there was no immediate need to acquire the land. On December 4, 1980 a notification had been issued by but the land was not the same land which had earlier been covered under Section 4 in 1969 or 1974. The said notification had been published in the locality by beat of drum and entry in this regard also been made in the Patwaris roznamcha. The declaration under Section 6 was issued within the statutory period of 3 years on August 17, 1983 and the landowners were also issued notice under Section 9 and their claims were heard. The petitioners had not suffered any discrimination.

9. The petitioners placed on record an additional affidavit alongwith copies of proceedings dated July 24, 1986 (Annexure A/3), October 6, 1986 (Annexure P/4) and October 10, 1986 (Annexure A/5). They also relied upon four notifications, photographs and certain letters.

10. The petitioners argument is that after the amendment of the Land Acquisition Act in 1984 a time limit had been provided for the pronouncement of the award, which limitation began from the date of Section 6 declaration. To consider this development, Chief Administrator, HUDA, presided over a meeting on July 24, 1986 of all departments concerned with land acquisition in Haryana. The participants included the Land Acquisition Collectors