UDAY UMESH LALIT,J. - (1.) These appeals by special leave are directed against the common Judgment and Order dated 15.12.2014 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh dismissing Civil Writ Petition No.23769 of 2011 with other connected matters. Appeal arising from Civil Writ Petition No.23769 of 2011 namely Civil Appeal No.8788 of 2015, has been taken as the lead matter and the facts stated therein are dealt with in detail.
(2.) The aforesaid Civil Writ Petition No.23769 of 2011 was filed by 117 landholders for the following principal relief: "a) Issue writ direction or order, especially in the nature of certiorari quashing the entire action of the respondents who invoked Sections 4 and 6 for the alleged public purpose but ultimately compelled the petitioners to be divested of their valuable and fertile land at throwaway prices under the threat of acquisition to the private persons and consequently after issuing Section 6 and at the stage of final proceedings under Section 9, the acquisition was withdrawn with fraudulent intentions after the land was purchased by the private builders in active connivance with State functionaries and further the entire acquisition proceedings were initiated with mala fide intention, illegally and in violation of the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act. The same is vitiated by fraud and all transactions including the sale deeds etc. are liable to be set aside without invoking the provisions of Part VII of the Act and with a further prayer for an enquiry/investigation through an independent agency in respect of the entire fraud played by the respondents and their officials; .... "
(3.) The relevant facts leading to the filing and disposal of the aforesaid writ petition were: (i) On 27.08.2004 Haryana Government, Industries Department issued a Notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 ( "Act " for short) for acquiring lands admeasuring about 912 Acres from three villages namely, Manesar, Lakhnoula and Naurangpur, Tehsil and District Gurgaon for setting up Chaudhari Devi Lal Industrial Township, to be planned as an Integrated Complex for residential, recreational and other public purposes. The notification was duly published in newspapers. The landholders including some of the writ petitioners filed their objections under Section 5A of the Act. (ii) Soon after the initiation of acquisition, various sale deeds were executed by the landholders including some of the writ petitioners in favour of certain builders/private entities. Some such builders/private entities who had recently purchased the lands also preferred objections under Section 5A of the Act. (iii) On 26.02.2005, a report was prepared by Land Acquisition Collector recommending to the State Government that land admeasuring 224 acres be released from acquisition. Thereafter, appropriate notification under Section 6 of the Act was issued on 25.08.2005 in respect of rest of the land admeasuring 688 acres. (iv) This acquisition was subject matter of challenge in number of Writ Petitions filed by the landholders and the subsequent purchasers viz. builders/private entities. (v) Even after issuance of notification under Section 6 of the Act, the builders/private entities continued approaching the landholders. It was submitted that the landholders were being shown Award Nos.7, 8, 9, 10 and 12, all passed on 09.03.2006 in respect of adjoining villages for the same purpose namely setting up of Chaudhary Devi Lal Industrial Township, where compensation was awarded @ Rs.12.5 lakhs per acre. In all these cases, notifications under Section 4 were issued on 17.09.2004 while declarations under Section 6 were issued on 27.10.2004 and the lands covered under Award Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 were i) 114 Kanals 02 Marlas, ii) 68 Kanals 15 Marlas, iii) 43 Biswas, iv) 65 Kanals 08 Marlas and v) 3515 Kanals 01 Marlas respectively. It was submitted that the landholders were thus cornered with the prospect of impending acquisition and the idea that the compensation would be awarded @ Rs.12.5 lakhs per acre and were persuaded to enter into transactions with builders/private respondents transferring their holdings @ Rs.20-25 lakhs per acre. (vi) On 02.08.2007 notices under Section 9 of the Act were issued calling upon the landholders to appear on 26.08.2007 for pronouncement of award. Soon after such notice, the builder/private entities started enhancing the price and bought the lands from the landholders at a price around Rs.80 lakhs per acre. (vii) On 24.08.2007, the State Government passed an order dropping the acquisition and stating that a fresh notification would be issued in place of the present proceedings. The reasons given in the order dated 24.08.2007 were as under: "In this connection, it is informed that State Government has notified that certain parcels of land have been released by Government on the recommendation of Minister 's Committee separately. Some of these parcels are acquired in the land acquisition proceedings under consideration. Further, Town and Country Planning Department has also informed that there are several cases wherein builders applied for licence/CLU on the land which also form part of the acquisition proceedings. Furthermore, in a number of cases the courts have stayed dispossession of land. In the circumstances, it is difficult at this stage to make up a view as what could be the shape and size of the land eventually being acquired by Government. It will not be appropriate to go ahead with these proceedings in the present form. State Government has, therefore, ordered that a fresh notification be issued in place of the present proceedings indicating therein as to which are the lands that are available for acquisition without any encumbrances. " (viii) On 20.09.2007 Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (for short HSIIDC) submitted a proposal to constitute an Inter Departmental Committee to survey the area and submit its recommendations for initiating fresh acquisition proceedings. On 09.10.2007 pending Writ Petitions filed by the landholders and the subsequent purchasers were disposed of by the High Court as having become infructuous in view of the dropping of the acquisition on 24.08.2007 and subsequent decision to constitute an Inter Departmental Committee. (ix) On 27.12.2007 licence Nos.283 and 284 were issued by the State Government for setting up a housing society. (x) On 26.03.2008 the Inter Departmental Committee submitted a report recommending complete withdrawal of acquisition. It was stated in the report that 12 applications for grant of licence along with requisite fees were submitted by various colonizers in respect of an area of about 362 acres. (xi) Around 22.09.2009, approvals of building plans of group housing societies and schemes of private builders came to be granted. (xii) Having come to know that the lands under acquisition were now being utilized for private gain by various builders/colonizers, the farmers started agitation against the process adopted by the Governmental machinery. (xiii) On 29.01.2010 a decision was taken by the State Government in Industries and Commerce Department to close the acquisition proceedings in view of the recommendations of the Inter Departmental Committee dated 26.03.2008 which in turn had been accepted by the HSIIDC. (xiv) The farmers ' agitation against the decision of the State Government favouring the builders was widely reported in newspapers on 01.03.2011. The agitation continued beyond August and September, 2011. On 20.09.2011 a request was made by sending communications to various functionaries for registration of FIR in respect of fraud played by the officials of the Land Acquisition Department as well as the Director, Town Planning in active connivance with the builders. (xv) On 19.12.2011 the aforesaid Writ Petition No.23769 of 2011 was filed in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh by 117 landholders. It was submitted that the entire action of initiating the acquisition and thereby compelling writ petitioners/landholders to divest their valuable and fertile land at throwaway prices under the threat of acquisition to certain private builders and then dropping the acquisition just two days before the date fixed for declaration of award was deliberate and was fraught with malice. (xvi) In the written statement filed by Respondent No.3 - ABW Infrastructure Limited, it was submitted that the answering respondent had obtained requisite licences for its residential as also commercial/group housing project namely ABW Niketan and had raised loans to the tune of Rs.170,00,00,000/-. (xvii) In their written statements, Respondent Nos.4 and 5 namely Metropolis Realtors Pvt. Ltd. and Flair Realtors Pvt. Ltd. submitted that both these Companies were incorporated on 03.02.2006; that the prices of lands in and around Gurgaon were increasing as Gurgaon city was developing fast and another factor causing rise in prices was that Master Plan for the area - i.e. Gurgaon Development Plan was notified on 05.02.2007. (xviii) The written statement submitted by Respondent No.6 - Metropolis Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. stated that said Company was incorporated on 19.04.2006. Rest of the submissions were on lines similar to that of Respondent Nos.4 and 5. (xix) On 06.12.2012 written statement was filed by State of Haryana justifying its action of withdrawal of acquisition. It was submitted that the writ petitioners had approached the Court more than 4 1/2 years after the decision of the State Government of dropping the acquisition proceedings. It was denied that there was any nexus between the builders and the State officials or that the exercise of acquisition was in any manner mala fide or fraudulent. (xx) In their replications filed on 15.01.2013, it was submitted by the writ petitioners that most of the lands were purchased by the builders or their substitute companies after the issuance of the Notification under Section 4 of the Act and yet, the sale deeds executed between the parties made no mention of factum of such notification. Further, the escalation of prices in last 20 days namely after the issuance of the notices under Section 9 showed that the builders were not only aware but were also sure that the acquisition would be dropped by the State Government. The hike in price was essentially to lure the landholders as after dropping of the acquisition there would be no threat to the landholders. (xxi) On 24.02.2014 the High Court directed the State of Haryana to give details about various acquisitions initiated around the time in question for the same public purpose namely, setting up of Chaudhary Devi Lal Industrial Township. (xxii) Accordingly, on or about 21.03.2014 an additional affidavit was filed on behalf of State of Haryana giving relevant details in a tabular chart. These details appear to be in addition to the lands covered under Awards 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 of 09.03.2006. The relevant tabular chart was as under: Details of Sections 4 and 6 notifications along with the Revenue Estates as mentioned in the written statement dated 06.12.2012 Sl. Events 912 acres, 24 acres, 163 acres, 3718 acres, 3510 acres, No. IMT, IMT, IMT, IMT, IMT, Manesar Manesar Manesar Manesar Manesar 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Date of 27.08.2004 27.12.2005 25.11.2005 08.12.2006 25.04.2008 Sec. 4 Notification 2. Land Area 912A-0 K-7M 24A-4K-5M 163A-3K-15M 3718A-6K-9M 3510A-5K-1M Notified U/S 4 3. Villages Lakhnaula, Manesar Manesar, Fazilwas, Fazilwas, Naurangpur, Khoh, Kukrola, Kukrola, Manesar Kasan Kharkhri, Kharkhri, Bas Bas Lambi, Lambi, Mokalwas, Mokalwas, Seharavan Seharavan Fakharpur. Fakharpur. 4. Purpose Setting up of Setting up of Setting up of Setting up of Setting up of Chaudhary Chaudhary the Chaudhary Chaudhary Devi Lal Devi Lal Industrial Devi Lal Devi Lal Industrial Industrial Model Industrial Industrial Model Model Township, Model Model Township, Township, Manesar, to Township to Township to Manesar, to Manesar, to be planned be planned as be planned as be planned as be planned and an integrated an integrated an integrated as an developed complex for complex for complex for integrated as an Industrial, Industrial, residential, complex integrated Commercial Commercial recreational for complex for and other and other and other residential, industrial, public public public recreational residential, utilities by utilities by utilities. and other recreational the HSIIDC. the HSIIDC. public and other utilities. public utilities, etc. 5. Date of 25.08.2005 15.07.2006 24.11.2006 18.01.2008 09.03.2009 Sec. 6 22.04.2009 Notification 6. Land Area 688A-3K-12M 24A-4K-5M 162A-3K-14M 3510A-5K-1 M 90A-5K-14M Notified 3325A-3K-16M u/S 6 7. Date of Award not 26.06.2008 24.02.2007 Section 6 24.08.2009 Award announced as Notification Award in the was respect of acquisition inadvertently 1128 acres proceedings issued after was were allowed expiry of the announced on to lapse vide period of one 21.04.2011. government year from the order dated date of last Award of the 24.08.2007 publication of remaining Section 4 land was not notification announced in and became view of the a legal decision of nullity. Fresh the Cabinet Section 4 Sub- notification Committee for 3510 on acres was infrastructure issued on and explained 25.04.2008. in paragraph 6 of the reply on merits of the written statement dt. 06.12.2012. (xxiii) Thus, in addition to lands covered by said Awards dated 09.03.2006, about 1315 acres of land stood acquired whereas 688 acres of land covered by Declaration under Section 6 of the Act in the present case was dropped from acquisition. It is relevant to note that in relation to acquisition referred to in Column No.5 vide award dated 24.02.2007 (annexed at page-307 in the Paper book) compensation was assessed at the rate of Rs.12.5 lakhs per acre; identical to one assessed in Awards dated 09.03.2006. (xxiv) The aforesaid petition as well as connected matters were dismissed by the High Court vide its judgment under appeal. It was observed that the landholders had taken no action after their writ petitions were dismissed as infructuous by order dated 09.10.2007 and the present action initiated more than 4 1/2 years after such dropping of acquisition was wholly belated. It was observed: "It is the case of the petitioners, that they were forced to sell their property under the threat of acquisition to the private respondents and thus the sale deeds so executed by them in their favour, deserved to set-aside. However we are unable to agree with the said contention raised by the Ld. Counsel for the petitioners as at no stage did the petitioners ever raised hue and cry viz. the said acquisition proceedings. Even when the writ petitions were filed by them in the year 2005 impugning the said acquisition proceedings, then also no grievance was raised by them in this regard and in fact during the pendency of these writ petitions, they even sold off their land to the private respondents for consideration and even got sale deeds executed in their favour. Even when the said writ petitions were dismissed as infructuous vide order dated 09.10.2007, then also no such distress or grievance was raised by them before this Court. Until the filing of the present writ petition, no action much less coercive action was taken by the petitioners against the respondents viz. setting aside of the sale deeds on the ground of fraud which thus apparently shows that not only did they acquiesced to the dropping of the said acquisition proceedings by the State Government but also waived off their right to challenge the same as well as the sale deeds executed by them in favour of the private respondents in view of Article 59 of the Limitation Act and thus now at this stage they have no vested or accrued right to challenge the said sale deeds voluntarily executed by them in favour of the private respondents and that too after a long yawning gap of 10 years in view of Section 31 of the Specific Relief Act, for which the present writ petitions being hit by delay and latches cannot be entertained for initiating such an action. " ;