- (1.) The petitioners by way of present petition have challenged the land acquisition proceedings initiated by the respondents under the provisions contained in the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') and have prayed to quash and set aside the declaration dated 12.3.13 (Annex.5) and the notice dated 27.2.15 (Annex.8) issued under Section 6 and 9 respectively of the said Act, and have further sought a declaration that the said proceedings have lapsed in view of the provisions contained in the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act of 2013').
(2.) As per the case of the petitioners, they had the agricultural land holdings in different villages of District Alwar, the details of which have been mentioned in Schedule-A of the writ petition. According to them, the said lands are very fertile lands and are being used for agricultural purposes. The said lands are sought to be acquired through the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO for short) for the establishment of projects of DMIC, for which the notification under Section 4 was issued on 20.6.12, followed by the declaration under Section 6 on 12.3.13. It is the further case of the petitioners that the Government of India through Ministry of Environment and Forest had made applicable the Aravali Notification dated 7.5.92 to the Alwar District, whereunder the necessary permissions/clearances were required to be taken for the establishment of the industrial projects, however the respondents had proceeded with the acquisition without obtaining such permissions. It is also the case of the petitioners that after the issuance of the declaration under Section 6 of the said Act, the Act of 2013 has come into force on 1.1.14, however the respondents have continued the proceedings under the said Act by issuing the notice on 27.2.15 (Annex.8) under Section 9, without following the mandate of Sections 26 to 30 of the Act of 2013, as also the Rehabilitation and Resettlement procedure provided under Section 31 of the Act of 2013. Since the lands in question were being acquired in contravention of the provisions of the Act of 2013, and the Aravali Notification of the year 1992, proceedings have been challenged by way of the present petition.
(3.) The respondents have filed the reply to the petition contending interalia that the acquisition of the lands was being done for a very prestigious projects to achieve sustainable growth of economy and to remove the bottlenecks for freight movements between the industrial regions and major ports of the country. The respondents have elaborately stated about the goals of DMIC. The respondents have raised the preliminary objections as regards the maintainability of the common petition at the instance of the petitioners. According to them, the objections raised by the petitioners during the enquiry under Section 5A of the said Act were duly considered by the Land Acquisition Officer by giving the oportunity of personal hearing by holding camps at the site and thereafter the report of the said enquiry was submitted on 14.2.13. Considering the said report, the declaration under Section 6 was made by the State Government on 12.3.13. They have also contended that the petitioners therefore could not have challenged the declaration under Section 6 at such a belated stage when the notices under Section 9 were already issued by the LAO. According to the respondents, even if the new Act of 2013 has come into force, the proceedings under the old Land Acquisiton Act would continue except that the provisions relating to the determination of compensation of under the new Act of 2013 would be applicable to such proceedings in view of Section 24(1)(a) of the Act of 2013, otherwise the award has to be passed as per the procedure contained in Section 11 of the said Act. It is further contended that for the purpose of DMIC Project, the NOC has already been obtained from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change of the Government of India on 13.10.14 and before granting the NOC, the said department had also invited objections from the persons residing near the vicinity of the lands in question and also conducted public hearing. Since all the provisions of the said Act have been duly complied with, the petition deserves to be dismissed.;