The main legal point established in the judgment is that the invocation of the urgency clause under Section 17 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, was justified based on the real urgency for public purpose and the development of the acquired land.

JUDGMENT :

M.R. SHAH, J.

1. Delay condoned. Leave granted.

2. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order dated 10.04.2017 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Writ Petition No. 2069 of 2010, by which the High Court has allowed the said writ petition and has quashed and set aside the notifications issued under Sections 4 & 6 respectively of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act’) with respect to the land in question on the ground that the urgency clause was illegally and wrongly invoked, the Union of India and the acquiring body, i.e., Director General of ITBP have preferred the present appeal.

3. That a request for providing about 75 acres of land for establishing one Battalion Headquarter of ITBP at Kanpur Nagar was made to the Government of Uttar Pradesh by the Director, Police Finance, ITBP as due to increasing Counter Insurgency Operations, Law and order duties of ITBP, VVIP security duties and Disaster Management Operations, it was decided to establish Battalion headquarter of ITBP at Kanpur Nagar, Uttar Pradesh and it was requested to urgently acquire the land by finding out suitable pieces of land. It appears that thereafter on 5.2.2009, the Special Secretary, State of Uttar Pradesh wrote a letter to the District Magistrate, Kanpur Nagar and Lucknow for identifying 72 to 75 acres of land for being provided for establishment of the Battalion headquarter of ITBP.

3.1 That thereafter, notification under Section 4 of the Act came to be issued on 2.9.2009 for urgent acquisition of the land in order to facilitate the accommodation of the troops and for ITBP headquarter. That immediately on issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act, respondent nos. 1 & 2 herein filed writ petition No. 54836 of 2009 before the Allahabad High Court challenging the Section 4 notification. The aforesaid petition came to be dismissed by the High Court as premature vide order dated 3.11.2009. That thereafter the State Government issued notification under Section 6 of the Act invoking the urgency clause and invoking Section 17 of the Act, vide notification dated 11.12.2009 and directed the Collector to take possession of the land. That thereafter again and on issuance of notification under Section 6 of the Act on 11.12.2009, respondent nos. 1 & 2 herein filed another writ petition No. 2069 of 2010 before the Allahabad High Court. Before the High Court, number of submissions were made on merits as well as on invoking the urgency clause and dispensing with the procedure under Section 5A of the Act. The said writ petition was opposed by the appellants justifying the invocation of urgency clause. It appears that thereafter the State Government acquired the land in the month of December, 2010 by adjudging the amount of compensation to the tune of Rs.6,33,09,176.41 inclusive of solatium for the land in question.

3.2 That by the impugned judgment and order and following and relying upon the decision of this Court in the case of Radhy Shyam v. State of U.P., reported in (2011) 5 SCC 553, the High Court has observed and held that the State Government was not justified in invoking the urgency clause and dispensing with the enquiry under Section 5 A of the Act. The High Court has observed and held that there was no immediate urgency and no facts existed before the State Government for invoking the power under Section 17(1) and Section 17(4) of the Act and consequently has held the notifications under Section 4 & 6 of the Act respectively as bad. However, taking note of the development of the acquired land and investment of public money for development of acquired land running into crores of rupees, subsequent to the acquisition notifications, after considering and following the decision of this Court in the case of Sahara India Commercial Corporation Limited v. State of Uttar Pradesh, reported in (2017) 11 SCC 339, the High Court has observed and held that the notifications under S