Hon’ble Ashok Bhushan, J.—These writ petitions (except Civil Misc. Writ Petition (PIL) No. 8968 of 2008) have been filed by the farmers of district Ghaziabad, State of Uttar Pradesh challenging the acquisition of their good agricultural land by the State of Uttar Pradesh for a Company (respondent No. 2). By two successive acquisition proceedings, first by issuing notification dated 11th February, 2004 under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) and second by issuing notification dated 29th August, 2006 under Section 4 of the Act, huge area of agricultural land measuring about 2500 acres was sought to be acquired for a power project to be established by the Company (respondent No. 2).

2. The above writ petitions can be categorises in four groups. The first group of writ petitions are Writ Petition No. 55578 of 2008 (Pooran and others v. State of U.P. and others) and other connected writ petitions which challenge both the acquisition proceedings, i.e., acquisition proceeding initiated by issuing notification dated 11th February, 2004 under Section 4 of the Act and the acquisition proceeding initiated by issuing notification dated 29th August, 2006 under Section 4 of the Act. The second group of writ petitions are Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 14254 of 2008 (Kanti v. State of U.P. and others) and other connected writ petitions, which challenge the land acquisition proceeding initiated by issuing notification dated 11th February, 2004 under Section 4 of the Act. The third group of writ petitions are Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 12014 of 2008 (Babu Singh and others v. State of U.P. and others) and other connected writ petitions which challenge the acquisition proceeding initiated by issuing notification dated 29th August, 2006 under Section 4 of the Act and the declaration dated 20th February, 2007 issued under Section 6 of the Act. The fourth group of writ petition is Civil Misc. Writ Petition (PIL) No. 55548 of 2008 (Vishwanath Pratap Singh and others v. State of U.P. and others), which is a public interest litigation challenging both the land acquisition proceedings initiated by issuing notifications under Section 4 of the Act dated 11th February, 2004 and 29th August, 2006.

3. The background facts giving rise to these writ petitions, briefly noted, are; Reliance Delhi Power Private Limited, a private registered company within the meaning of Companies Act, 1956 made an application on on 19th January, 2004 to the Chief Secretary of the State of U.P. expressing its interest in setting up of 3000-3500 MW Gas Based Thermal Power Station in Tahsil Hapur, District Ghaziabad. On the same day another letter dated 19th January, 2004 was submitted before the Collector by the Reliance Delhi Power Private Limited praying acquisition of 2500 acres of land in villages Baharmandpur, Jadonpur, Nand Lal Pur, Bajhera Khurd, Kakarana, Dhaulana and Dehra, Pargana Dasna, Tahsil Hapur, District Ghaziabad. The application was appended with relevant certificates and declarations for acquisition. The Additional District Magistrate submitted a report before the Collector, Ghaziabad for forwarding proposal of acquisition to the Director, Land Acquisition. The report noted that the Company has also deposited 10% acquisition charges and 10% estimated compensation. The Collector on 24th January, 2004 forwarded the acquisition proposal received from the Company to the Director, Land Acquisition, Board of Revenue, Lucknow. The Director after examining the proposal received from the Collector wrote a letter to the Principal Secretary (Energy) on 28th January, 2004 for taking steps for issuance of notification under Section 4(1) read with Section 17 of the Act according to the procedure prescribed in Part-VII and VIII (Sections 38 to 55) of the Act. The letter of the Director, Land Acquisition was examined by the Energy Department of the State and a note was submitted that approval of Bhumi Upyog Parishad be ob