JUDGMENT

Sanjeev Kumar-J

1. The land owners of in as many as twenty villages, whose land has come under acquisition for construction of “semi ring road” being constructed by the National Highway Authority of India [“NHAI”] from Pampore to Sonawari are before this Court in these two writ petitions.

2. The ring road undertaken by the NHAI for construction would pass through districts of Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama and Bandipora. The Government of India has entrusted the job of constructing the ring road to NHAI. With a view to acquiring private land of the land owners in the aforesaid districts for laying down the ring road, the NHAI has approached the local authorities of the State Government i.e. Collectors under the Jammu and Kashmir Land Acquisition Act, 1990 for acquiring the required land. Accordingly, the Collectors within their respective jurisdictions have issued notifications under Section 4 of the J&K Land Acquisition Act Svt. 1990 [“1990, Act”] followed by notices issued under Section 6 and 7 of the 1990 Act by the Government. It is the allegation of the petitioners that the notices issued under Section 4 by the Collectors for acquisition of the land in their respective jurisd