- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) By an order dated 31.01.2011 the High Court of Punjab & Haryana has held the appellants guilty of commission of contempt and had adjourned the matter to a subsequent date for hearing on the question of sentence. Aggrieved, this appeal has been filed.
(3.) The facts, in brief, may be noticed. The respondents 1 & 2 had filed a writ petition (C.W.P. No.5104 of 2006) in the High Court of Punjab & Haryana challenging the acquisition of land belonging to them under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter for short "the Act"). By the impugned Notification(s) issued under the Act, over 500 acres of land belonging to different land owners, including respondents-writ petitioners, was sought to be acquired. According to the respondents-writ petitioners, nearly 80% of the acquired area was subsequently released from acquisition. Consequently, the remaining land (which included the land of the respondents-writ petitioners) had ceased to be viable for the purpose for which the impugned acquisition was made, namely, for development of residential and commercial sectors 8-19 at Sonepat. It was the further case of the respondents-writ petitioners before the High Court that the release of the land proposed for acquisition was at the instance of one Omaxe Housing and Developing Company Ltd. which had arrived at some understandings with the land owners and had executed agreements of sale with such land owners even after publication of the notification under Section 6 of the Act.;