KENJE GOWDER Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AGGRIEVED by the land acquisition proceedings initiated by the respondents for a public purpose, namely, for construction of house-sites under Anna Nagar Neighbourhood Scheme, petitioners numbering 11 have filed the above writ petition.

(2.) IT is seen from the affidavit filed in support of the above writ petition that the lands measuring an extent of 2.64 acres comprised in S.F.No.128/2 of Veerakeralam village, Coimbatore Taluk and District and other lands originally belonged to first petitioner's father Dhodda Thamay Gowder and he executed a registered Settlement Deed dated 24.10.1947 in respect of the said lands in favour of first petitioner and his brothers, late Muthu Gowder and late Eare Gowder. After, the death of the said two brothers, the first petitioner and other are continuing the performance as per the above Settlement deed. As it was no longer possible to continue the performance with the meagre income from the said lands, the petitioners and one V.M.Krishnamurthy filed O.P.No.77 of 1981 before the District Court, Coimbatore under Sec.34 of the Indian Trusts Act praying to accord permission to sell the Trust property viz., the lands in S.F.No.128/2 and the said court accorded permission to sell the said lands. As extent of 1.37 acres in S.F.No.128/2 was sold to various persons and another extent of 75 cents was acquired under the Land Acquisition Act for the formation of the Coimbatore Siruvani Road and the remaining extent of 52 cents was in their possession and enjoyment. The land acquired for the formation of the Coimbatore-Siruvani Road was sub-divided as S.F.No.l28/2B and the 52 cents in their possession was sub-divided as S.F.No.128/2C. Their father, the said Dhodda Thamay Gowder died in 1959 and the patta for the abovesaid lands still stands in his name. For fixing the compensation amount for the 75 cents of land in S.F.No.128/2B acquired for the formation of the Coimbatore-Siruvani Road, notices under Secs.9(3) and 10 of the Land Acquisition Act were served on the petitioners herein for the award enquiry and the award was also passed in favour of the petitioners and others. IT is further stated that the petitioners herein laid the said 52 cents in S.F.128/2C into house-sites and under Registered Sale Deeds dated 9.5.1994 and 12.5.1995 sold to one Mrs.T.Jayaram and one Mrs.M.Vijaya an extent of 10 cents and 80 sq.ft. and 3 cents and 272 sq.ft. respectively. When the above said purchasers approached the Veerakeralam Town Panchayat for sanction of the building plan to put up building in the sites purchased by them, they were informed that since the lands in S.F.No.128/2C has been acquired under the Land Acquisition Act. The plan could not be sanctioned and the purchasers informed the said facts to the petitioners herein. Thereafter, the petitioners made enquiries and came to know that the said land has been acquired and obtained the copy of the Sec.4(1) and Sec.6 declaration. No notice whatsoever was served on the petitioners at any stage of the proceedings and to the knowledge of the petitioners, no award seems to have passed so far and no notice for the award enquiry has been received. In such circumstances, having no other effective and alternative remedy, the petitioners have filed the above writ petition.

(3.) LEARNED Government Advocate has also raised another objection stating that even though 4(1) notification was published in the Gazette dated 3.2.1982 and declaration under Sec.6 on 7.3.1984, the petitioners have filed the above writ petition only in the year 1995; hence on the ground of delay, the writ petition is liable to be dismissed. It is true that both 4(1) notification and 6 declaration were published in the year 1982 and 1984 respectively. For this, the petitioners have offered their explanation in para 3 of the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition. It is stated that an extent of 1.37 acres in S.F.No.128/2 was sold to various persons and another extent of 75 cents was acquired under the Land Acquisition Act for the formation of the Coimbatore Siruvani Road and the remaining extent of 52 cents was in their possession and enjoyment. They further stated that the land acquired for the formation of the Coimbatore-Siruvani Road was sub-divided as S.F.No.128/2B and the 52 cents in their possession was sub-divided as S.F.No.128/2C. It is further stated that the petitioners herein laid the said 52 cents in S.F.No.128/2C into house-sites and sold to one T.Jayaram and another M.Vijaya by registered sale deeds dated 9.5.1994 and 12.5.1995 respectively. It is also stated that when the said purchasers approached the Veerakeralam Town Panchayat for sanction of building plan to put up building in the sites purchased by them, they were informed that the plan could not be sanctioned as the lands in S.F.No.128/2C had been acquired under the Land Acquisition Act. It is also stated that after hearing the said facts from the purchasers, they made enquiries and came to know that the said land has been acquired and then they obtained the copy of the Sec.4(1) notification and Sec.6 declaration. The explanation offered by the petitioners in paras 2 and 3 of the affidavit are acceptable and in such a circumstance, the writ petition cannot be dismissed on the ground of delay. If the petitioners were well aware of the acquisition proceedings and kept quiet for several years deliberately then we will easily come to a conclusion that the writ petition is liable to be dismissed on the ground of laches as pointed out by the learned Government Advocate. As stated earlier, the petitioners have furnished the reasons for the delay and only on hearing from the purchasers of the house-sites and after obtaining necessary particulars such as 4(1) notification and 6 declaration, they filed the present writ petition on 18.7.1995; accordingly, I accept the case of the petitioners for the delay in filing the above writ petition.