COMMON ORDER

The Hon'ble Chief Justice

These writ petitions relate to, on the one hand, payment of lease rent of the land in question being claimed by the petitioners from the Department of Civil Aviation and on the other hand, a challenge raised to the acquisition of the same land which came to be acquired in terms of the Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Industrial Purposes Act, 1997 (in short, “1997 Act”).

2. The ancestors of the present land owners/petitioners had leased out the land to the Department of Defence, Government of India, under a lease agreement dated 08.08.1942 during the period of Second World War. The lands are situate in Villages Singanallur and Kalapatti of Coimbatore District, that was utilized as an Aerodrome and later on transferred to the Department of Civil Aviation in the year 1947. The petitioners contend that there was a big default in payment of lease rent, and even the subsequent transfer of the said land to the Airport Authority of India. Ultimately after protests, a tripartite agreement was arrived at in a meeting convened on 22.08.2006, whereupon it was agreed that a lease rent of 5% of the land cost would be payable subject to re-valuation of the la