ANUP RAI JAIN Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) We have heard S/Sri Ramendra Asthana and Pankaj Dubey for the petitioners in Civil Misc. Writ Petitions No. 74622 of 2010 and 74625 of 2010. Sri Jagdish Pathak appears for the petitioners of Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 74623 of 2010. Sri M.C. Tripathi, Additional Standing Counsel, appears for the State-respondent and Sri A.K. Mishra appear or the Muzaffarnagar Development Authority. The petitioners in all these three writ petitions have challenged the Notification dated 6.12.2007 under Section 4(1) read with Section 17(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (in short 'the Act'), published in the news paper on 19.12.2007, and in the locality on 18.1.2007, and the Notification dated 7.12.2010 under Section 6(1) read with Section 17(1) of the Act by which plots No. 203, 210 and 211, areas 2.9734, 1.034 and 1.577 Hectares respectively, in Writ Petition No. 74622 of 2010; plots No. 183 and 189, area 0.092 and 0.464 Hectares in Writ Petition No. 74623 of 2010; and plots No. 204, 205, 206 and 207, areas 0.082, 0.072, 0.062 and 0.062 Hectares owned by the petitioners in these writ petitions were acquired by the State Government for planned residential development scheme, to be developed by the Muzaffarnagar Development Authority, Muzaffarnagar (in short 'MDA')..

(2.) The petitioners are owners of the land situate in village Almaspur, Tehsil Sadar, District Muzaffarnagar. A Notification under Section 4 of the Act was published on 6.12.2007 invoking the provisions of Section 17(1) and (4) of the Act, dispensing with enquiry under Section 5A. The notification was challenged in Writ Petition No. 186 of 2008, which was dismissed by the High Court on 4.1.2008 on the ground that the writ petition was premature as the notification under Section 6 of the Act was not published.

(3.) The petitioner, Ashok Kumar, in Writ Petition No. 186 of 2008 filed Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) No. 4670 of 2008, in which the Supreme Court issued notice on 3.3.2008 and directed that in the meanwhile, status quo be maintained by both the parties. The Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) No. 4670 of 2008 was dismissed on 1.2.2010 with the following order :