Dalip Singh & Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors.

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE M.M. KUMAR HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SABINA Present: Mr. R.K. Verma, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr. Ashish Kapoor, Addl. AG, Haryana. Mr. Dinesh Nagar, Advocate, for HUDA. JUDGMENT M.M. KUMAR, J. The instant petition is directed against notification dated

17.4.2002 (P-2), issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for brevity, ‘the Act’) and declaration dated 10.4.2003 (P-8), issued under Section 6 of the Act. The petitioners have also prayed for quashing of subsequent proceedings which include the award dated 25.6.2004. The instant petition has been filed on

30.10.2004/9.11.2004 almost 4½ months after the award. It is further C.W.P. No. 19194 of 2004 2 appropriate to mention that in respect of the same acquisition a Division Bench of this Court, of which one of us (M.M. Kumar, J.) was a member, has already dismissed the petitioner, which is reported as Lakhmi Chand v. State of Haryana, 2008(2) PLR 90. In the present case, the additional issue raised by the respondents is that no petition would be competent after announcement of the award. After hearing learned counsel for the parties at some length, we are of the considered view that the acquisition, which is subject matter of challenge in the instant petition, has already been upheld by this Court in the case of Lakhmi Chand (supra). Moreover it is well settled that no acquisition could be challenged after the announcement of award, as has been held by Hon’ble the Supreme Court in the cases of Star Wire (India) Ltd. v. State of Haryana, (1996) 11 SCC 698; Municipal Council Ahmednagar v. Shah Hyder Beig, (2000) 2 SCC 48; C. Padma v. Dy. Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu, (1997) 2 SCC 627; and M/s Swaika Properties Pvt. Ltd. v. State of Rajasthan, JT 2008 (2) SC 280. In view of above, we find no merit in the instant petition and the same is dismissed. (M.M. KUMAR) JUDGE (SABINA) JUDGE May 13, 2008 Pkapoor