- (1.) THE petitioner No.1, Jagriti Sahkari Awas Samiti Limited Ghaziabad through its Secretary Sri Raja Ram Pandey who has also joined as petitioner No. 2, have filed this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, aggrieved by the Notifications dated 10th March, 1988 issued by the State Government under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter re­ferred to as the 'Act') and dated 8th July, 1988 published under Section 6 of the Act for acquisition of certain land mentioned therein situate at village Makanpur, Pargana Loni, District Ghaziabad for Planned Industrial Development through New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (hereinafter referred to as the 'NOIDA'). They have also sought a writ of certiorari for quashing notice dated 19th January, 1989 issued under Section 9 of the Act. A writ of mandamus restraining the re­spondents from interfering with the ownership, possession and use of the land in dispute has also been sought in the present writ petition.
(2.) THE facts in brief giving rise to the present dispute are; the petitioner a Cooperative Housing Society got itself registered in accordance with the provi­sions of U.P. Cooperative Societies Act, 1965 (in short 1965 Act) on 16th April, .1982. A copy of the bye-laws of the Society are on record as Annexure 3 to the writ petition. The petitioner No. 1 also became member of U.P. Cooperative Hous­ing Federation Limited, an Apex Body under Section 2(a-4) (10) of 1965 Act. The petitioner Society purchased in all about 20 plots in Village Makanpur, Pargana Loni District Ghaziabad between March 1983 to November 1985 measuring 31 Bighas, 7 Biswas and 19 Biswansis after paying a total consideration of Rs. 19,91,880/- for providing housing accommodation to its members. The name of petitioner No.1 was also mutated in the revenue records. The Society formed a Scheme, namely, Shyam Vihar Yojna, to be developed on the aforesaid land, which it has purchased between 1983 to 1985 and, accordingly, it carved out small plots measuring about 200 yards for the purpose of distribution thereof to its member. It is said that the petitioner No. 1 Society carved out in total about 287 plots, out of which it entered into agreement for sale with the members in respect to 181 plots and those members paid price of the plot of land as well as develop­ment charges. It is said that the agreements for sale were entered into prior to 10th March, 1988. In April 1985 and onwards, the petitioner No.1 started develop­ment activities including filling and levelling of land, construction of boundary wall, boring of tube well etc. On 26th August, 1985, the petitioner No. 1 sent a letter to NOIDA inquiring as to whether the aforesaid land of the petitioner No.1 had been acquired. The NOIDA vide its letter dated 5th September, 1985 replied in nega­tive. However, some employees of NOIDA started interfering with the petitioners' activities on the land in question where against it filed original suit No. 333 of 1986 in the Court of Munsif, Ghaziabad seeking injunction restraining NOIDA from in­terfering with the petitioner's ownership, possession and use of the said land. The petitioner No. 1 learnt that on 31 st December, 1986, the State Government through Industries Department got a proposal for acquisition of petitioner's land showing objective as "planned development of the area". The proposal included certain documents including draft proposal, notification under Section 4 of the Act show­ing purpose of acquisition as "Planned Development of Industries in District Ghaziabad" and seeks to invoke urgency clause under Section 17(1) and (1-A) of the Act and to dispense with the provision of Section 5-A thereof. A draft notification under Section 6 of the Act, a preliminary report purporting to have been prepared by Special Land Acquisition Officer, NOIDA (in short SLAO) and chart of plots proposed to be acquired were also appended to the said proposal. On 5th May, 1987, the District Magistrate sent a letter to NOIDA stating that 20% of the price of the land to be acquired had to be deposited by it prior to issuance of Notifications under Sections 4, 6 and 17 of the Act but was not deposited and, therefore, he required NOIDA to deposit the same immediately. Again on 10th June, 1987, another proposal for acquisition of the said land was made stating that the land is required for "planned industrial development in District Ghaziabad" through NOIDA appending similar documents as were in the earlier proposal. It is said that the preliminary report accompanying the application dated 10th June, 1987 was same as it was submitted earlier. On 15th June, 1987, the SLAO pointed out certain defects in the land acquisition proposal to Tehsildar requiring it to do needful for removal of such defects. NOIDA passed a resolution on 29th June, 1987 for acquisition of about 1762.194 Acres of land in village Khora, 366.680 Acres of land in Rasulpur, Navada and 480.219 Acres at village Makanpur, all in District Ghaziabad, for utilization for institutional allotment etc. It also resolved that the land use would be prescribed in the draft master plan which was being revised by Chief Town and Country Planner, UP. The SLAO again sent a letter dated 13th July, 1987 complaining that the Tehsildar had not taken steps for clarifying on the 17 points raised by him with respect to acquisition proposal of the land. On 13th August, 1987, Administrative Officer, NOIDA sent a letter to SLAO, NOIDA stating that the land in village Rasulpur Nawada, Khora and Makanpur was required for the purpose of entertainment/recreation, industrial purposes etc. and, therefore, the acquisition proceedings be initiated at the earliest. On 28th October, 1987, the District Magistrate, however sent a letter to the State Government that the land at village Makanpur to the extent of 463.02 Acres is required for public purpose and, therefore, he recommended for issuance of Notification under Section 4(1) and 6 read with Section 17 of the Act, so that the development activities may be undertaken smoothly. The State Government sought more infor­mation for justifying Section 17 of the Act and, accordingly, the District Magis­trate vide letter dated 19th November, 1987 directed Secretary, NOIDA to give its justification at the earliest. The NOIDA Authorities vide letter dated 19th Novem­ber, 1987 gave reasons for invoking Section 17 of the Act which in short are: (1) The village fell within the National Capital Region and there was a proposal by the Central Government to transfer some of its Projects to NOIDA, who has to make provisions for accommodating those projects. The transfer of the land has to be made immediately to the Central Government and ordinary acquisition shall take a long time. Delay would prolong the Project of the Central Government. (2) Some colonizers had made unauthorized sales of land in the region and had made unauthorized construction. Any delay would increase the number of such unauthorized constructions which may also result in developing slum area causing obstruction in planned development. (3) Increase of unauthorized constructions resulting in dense population on the land affecting public amenities. (4) The land is marked as green belt and any construction made on the land would affect the environment. The petitioner No.1 learning that its land is likely to be acquired, sent representations dated 7.12.1987 and 9.12.1987 requesting the Government not to acquire the said land. However, on 10th March, 1988, the State Government published Notification under Section 4 of the Act proposing acquisition of certain land in village Makanpur which included land in dispute of the petitioner No. 1. The Notification also provided that in view of the pressing urgency, the inquiry under Section 5-A shall not apply and Section 17(4) of the Act was invoked. The said Notification was published in the newspapers on 1st April, 1988. The peti­tioner No. 1 made a representation on 11th April, 1988 to the District Magistrate. The Munsif, Ghaziabad granted an injunction in favour of the petitioner No. 1 on 13th April, 1988 restraining NOIDA from interfering in the development activities carrying out in the land in question for residential purposes of the petitioner. There­after on 8th July, 1988, the State Government issued Notification under Section 6 of the Act declaring that the land in question was needed for "planned industrial development" through NOIDA and invoking urgency clause under Section 17(1) of the Act directed Collector, Ghaziabad not to wait for award under Section 11 and to proceed to take possession of the land within 15 days from publication of notices under Section 9 of the Act. The Notification dated 8th July, 1988 was published in the U.P. Gazette Extraordinary dated 9th July, 1988 and in newspa­pers on 29th July, 1988. On 23rd August, 1988, the District Magistrate, Ghaziabad required NOIDA to pay 80% of the price of the land and thereafter on 19th Janu­ary, 1989, the petitioner received notice under Section 9 of the Act where against made representation on 31st January, 1989 and thereafter filed the present writ petition before this Court which was entertained on 16th February, 1989 and an interim order was passed restraining respondents from taking possession of the disputed land.
(3.) ON behalf of respondent State, a counter affidavit has been filed sworn by Sri Gopi Nath Srivastava, Section Officer, Industry U.P. Civil Secretariat, Lucknow stating that the proposal was received by the State Government from NOIDA that the land in question and some other land was required for planned industrial development. The need and purpose for acquisition of land was placed before the Government and after examining the same, the Government was satisfied that the land in question was required urgently and, accordingly, acquisition proceed­ings invoking Section 17 of the Act were initiated and the inquiry under Section 5-A of the Act was dispensed with.;