- (1.) THE only point involved in these writ petitions is, whether an award can be challenged by the land holders (persons whose land is acquired) on the ground that no prior approval was taken under first proviso to sub-section (1) of section 11 {section 11(1)} of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (the Act).
(2.) A huge piece of land in district Agra was acquired under the Act for the benefit of the Agra Development Authority (the ADA) for construction of Taj Nagri residential scheme (Phase-II). In this respect notifications under sections 4 and 6 of the Act dated 30.1.1989 and 8.2.1990 were published. In this acquisition, section 17 was made applicable and inquiry under section 5-A of the Act was dispensed with. The aforesaid notifications came to be challenged in a bunch of writ petitions. In this bunch, WP 5452 of 1990 was the leading writ petition.
(3.) THE aforesaid bunch was allowed by this court on 20.8.1993. THE notification under section 6 of the Act was quashed and the Collector was directed to make inquiry under section 5-A of the Act. During pendency of the aforesaid writ petitions, the Special Land Acquisition Officer, Agra (the SLAO) gave an award on 29.2.1992. By this award he awarded Rs.130/- per square yard for the land within Agra municipal area and Rs.97.50/- per square yard for the land out side the municipal area. The ADA filed WP 31481 of 1992 against this award.;