By the Court.—The petitioner has prayed for directions to quash notifications under Section 4 (1) read with Section 17 (4) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, the Act) dated 12.3.2008, and the notification under Section 6 read with Section 17 (1) of the Act dated 3.2.2009, in so far as the petitioner’s land, in Plot No. 1508 area 3.365 hectares and Plot No. 1528 area 1.252 hectares in Village Chhaprola, Tehsil and Pargana Dadri, District Gautam Budh Nagar, has been acquired by the State Government out of the total area of 68.129 hectares included in the notifications.

2. The notification under Section 4 (1) read with Section 17 (4) dated 12.3.2008 and the notification under Section 6 read with Section 17 (1) dated 3.2.2009 declare that the land is required in public interest for ‘planned industrial development’ of GNIDA. The notification under Section 4 (1) read with Section 17 (4) dated 12.3.2008 dispense with enquiry under Section 5-A of the Act and the notification under Section 6 (1) provides for directions under Section 17 (1) authorising the Collector to take over possession of the land within 15 days after publication of the notice under Section 9 (1), even if the award has not been declared under Section 11 of the Act.

3. The award under Section 11 of the Act was declared on 31.3.2011. The petitioner has not received the compensation. It is stated in the writ petition and is emphatically stated by Shri Ashwani Kumar Misra that there has been no development over the acquired plots and no allotment has been made to any person for carrying out any development.

4. We have heard Shri Ashwani Kumar Misra, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner. Standing Counsel appears for the State respondents. Shri Ramendra Pratap Singh appears for the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, District Gautam Budh Nagar (GNIDA).

5. The writ petition was filed on 3.3.2009 within a month of the notification under Section 6 (1) dated 3.2.2009 under the Act, with the averments that the petitioner is recorded as bhumidhar of plot Nos. 1508 and 1528 for last more than 30 years. The plots in question are surrounded by boundary wall, within which the petitioner is running an Agro based industry in the name of ‘Sonal Fruit processor’ which is duly registered with the Ministry of Food Processing Industry, Government of India, New Delhi as well as with the Director of Industries, U.P. The industry was registered on 10.1.1991 as Sonal Food Processor under the Food Product Order, 1955 as a proprietary concern. It is also registered with the District Industries Centre vide certificate of the General Manager, District Industries Centre, Ghaziabad dated 26.3.1993.

6. It is stated that the petitioner is also running floriculture wherein various kinds of hybrid seeds of flowers are produced and are being widely dispatched within the country and beyond the country. The petitioner has been supplying seeds to many important persons including the President of India in which a certificate was issued by the President’s Secretariat, certifying quality of petitioner’s seeds on 21.9.1982. The floriculture unit “Pushpalaya” is registered as seed importer with the District Horticulture Office and a certificate was granted by the District Horticulture Officer, Ghaziabad on 19.2.1996.

7. The petitioner, having come to know that the land is proposed to be acquired, made a representation to GNIDA on 11.4.2008, giving the details of the business of floriculture and food processing carried out on the land. A similar representation was also sent to the State Government.

8. Shri Ashwani Kumar Misra has challenged the notifications acquiring the land on the grounds that there was no material with the State Government to satisfy itself, that the land was urgently required for planned industrial development, nor there was any plan for the land acquired by the impugned notifications in village Chhaprola. He submits that there could be no urgency to d