- (1.)A brief re'sume' of the fact leading to filing of the present Letters Patent Appeal would be quite instructive in the matter.
(2.)The respondents challenged the Award made by the Appellant-Collector Land Acquisition by seeking a Writ of Prohibition restraining the appellant from taking any proceedings on the basis of the award saying that the same has been passed without complying the mandate of law as laid down under Sections 4, 9 and 9(A) of the Jammu and Kashmir Land Acquisition Act, 1990. According to respondents, they are the tenants of the land covered under Khasra Nos. 602, 602 min, 602/A situate at Rampur Rajouri and it constituted a part of the land consisting of 35 kanal and 4 marlas acquired by the appellant for public purpose. The respondents applied to the appellant for copies of the notices, if any, issued to them under Sections 9 and 9(A) of the Act, but no such notices were available with the respondents nor the same were published in a Government Gazette or made public on the spot, as required under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act. The appellant controverted the challenge made in the writ petition by the respondents, saying that they were not the owners of the land but were tenants at will and were, as such, not entitled to any compensation in terms of SRO 221 Dated 3-5-1973 and therefore they had no locus standi to maintain the writ petition. It was further submitted that the notice under Section 4 was issued vide No. AC/LA/23-26 dated 11-4-1985, which was endorsed to the Manager Government Press Jammu for publication and to Tehsildar Rajouri for necessary service. Regarding the notices under Sections 9 and (A) it was submitted that those were sent to Tehsildar Rajouri for wide publicity in the area.
(3.)Upon consideration, the learned single Judge vide order dated 19-2-1991 impugned in this L.P.A., found that no notice as required under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act was published in the Government Gazette nor was it affixed at any convenient place in the concerned locality, nor was it even made known by beat of drum.