Hon’ble Tarun Agarwala, J.—These writ petitions are being decided together since a common issue is involved.

2. In writ petition No. 13218 of 2008, the Competent Authority under the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 (hereinafter referred as the Act) declared 13409.16 square meters of land as surplus by an order dated 17.3.1979. Thereafter, the Competent Authority issued a notice dated 27.3.1993 under Section 10(5) of the Act directing the petitioner to hand over the possession of the land to the respondents within 30 days from the date of receipt of the letter failing which forceful possession would be taken.

3. Against this notice, the petitioner filed an appeal under Section 33 of the Act before the District Judge, in which an interim order dated 26.4.1994 was passed staying the delivery of possession of the surplus land. During the pendency of the appeal, the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Repeal Act, 1999 (hereinafter referred as the Repeal Act) came into existence, as a result of which the appeal of the petitioner was dismissed as abated by an order dated 30.11.1999. The petitioner contends that in spite of the fact that the land was declared surplus b