HC dismisses 'delayed' plea against land acquisition

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday dismissed a writ petition challenging acquisition of land for construction of Inner Ring Road at Agra on the ground of delay. The petition was filed two years after the notification for acquisition of the land was issued.
Giving this judgment, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Shiva Kirti Singh and Justice Vikram Nath observed, "The counsel for Agra Development Authority has submitted that majority of the landholders have accepted the acquisition and have agreed to receive compensation as per Karar Niyamawali (contract rules).
The petitioners - Ram Babu and another had preferred to challenge notifications dated September 14, 2010 and May 24, 2011 issued under Sections 4 and 6 respectively of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
Dismissing the writ petition, the court observed, "The only ground to explain the delay of more than two years in preferring this writ petition is a plea that petitioners were not aware about the disposal of their objections. That plea does not hold water because Section 6 notification is issued after the objections are considered under Section 5-A of the Act. The other plea on behalf of the petitioners that a writ petition challenging the notifications in question preferred in 2011 is still pending, in our view, does not amount to satisfactory explanation for delay because different writ petitions may be based upon different pleas peculiar to facts of each case."