- (1.) All the aforesaid First Appeals raises common question of facts and law hence with the consent of the parties they are being decided by a common judgment. The encapsulated facts of the case are that all these First Appeals arise from the awards made by the Nagar Mahapalika Tribunal, Agra in references made under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 in respect of the lands acquired under the "Ghatwasan Grah Isthan Evam Sarak Yojna", Agra, pursuant to the common preliminary notification dated 23.4.1960. The Nagar Mahapalika, Agra framed a Housing-cum-Street Scheme and pursuant thereto the notifications under section 357 (similar to section 4 of the L.A. Act) and under section 363 (similar to section 6 of the L.A. Act) of the U.P. Nagar Mahapalika Adhiniyam, 1959 (in short, "the Adhiniyam") were issued on 23.4.1960 and 26.9.1964 respectively. Thereafter, an agreement was executed between the Nagar Mahapalika and the U.P. Avas Evam Vikas Parishad, Lucknow (in short, "the Parishad") on 31.5.1968 under section 47 of the U.P. Avas Evam Vikas Parishad Adhiniyam, 1965 to transfer the execution of the said scheme to the Parishad. The Special Land Acquisition Officer then took the possession of the scheme on 18.6.1971, which was followed by his award under section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act on 24.11.1972.
(2.) Being not satisfied with the award, the references were sought under section 18 of the L.A. Act, which were made by the Special Land Acquisition Officer to the Tribunal, constituted under section 371 of the N.M.P. Adhiniyam, which ultimately resulted into five separate awards, the details of which are as under: (1) award dated 10.7.1996 made against which the Parishad has filed its F.A. No. 531 of 1996 on 13.11.1996. (2) award dated 11.5.1992 made in against which the Parishad has filed its F.A. No. 261 of 1997 on 10.1.1997. (3) award dated 10.8.1996 made in against which the Parishad has filed its F.A. No. 262 of 1997 on 23.11.1997. (4) award dated 24.2.1998 made against which the Parishad has filed its F.A. No. 303 of 1998 on 9.7.1998 and (5) award dated 31.5.1997 made in L.A. Case No. 5 of 1974 against which the Parishad has filed its F.A. No. 556 of 1999 on 26.5.1998.
(3.) Objections have been raised by learned Counsel appearing for the claimants/respondents that these appeals under section 381 of the N.M.P. Adhiniyam are not maintainable on account of the fact that the appellant-Parishad has failed to obtain certificate of fitness from the Tribunal and to deposit the money awarded by the Tribunal on or before the date of filing of these appeals though it was a mandatory requirement under section 381, sub-section (3) of the N.M.P. Adhiniyam and secondly the Parishad has filed these appeals without obtaining the requisite certificate of fitness from the Tribunal under section 381(1)(a) of the N.M.P. Adhiniyam. However he further submits that in First Appeal No. 261 of 1997 the requisite certificate of fitness has been obtained.;