1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.4083 OF 2009 Ramesh Jiwaji Bagalkote ..Petitioners (Since deceased through LRs) V/s. The State of Maharashtra & ors ..Respondents Mr.Ajit Kenjale, Advocate, for the petitioners Mr.V.P.Malvankar, Assistant Government Pleader, for respondent Nos.1 to 4 Mr.Vijay Patil, Advocate, for respondent No.5 CORAM : S.B.MHASE & R.M.SAVANT, JJ. DATE : 12TH AUGUST, 2009 P.C. . Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for the State and the learned counsel for the acquiring body. The petitioners' land has been taken into possession by the acquiring body for construction of canal in the year June, 2004. The said act was done by the respondents  acquiring body without acquiring the land. The learned 2 counsel for the petitioners states that presently canal is excavated and operational. The grievance of the petitioners is that the land was taken into possession without offering any compensation and completing the land acquisition proceedings. Thereafter, the petitioners waited for some time so that the respondents may initiate the land acquisition proceedings and pay them compensation. It is required to be noted that the respondents have not taken any steps for compensating the petitioners. The petitioners approached this Court by filing Writ Petition No.10741 of 2004. The said Writ Petition was disposed of on 13th September, 2005, with the directions to complete the acquisition proceedings in accordance with law and it was further observed that the petitioners are at liberty to make every claim for compensation before the Land Acquisition Officer. Inspite of the fact that the said Writ Petition No.10741 of 2004 was disposed of by this Court by the aforesaid directions, notification under Section 4 was issued 3 on 5th April, 2009 i.e. after a period of four years. Now it is submitted by the learned counsel for the respondents that the Section 5(A) enquiry is over and issuance of declaration under Section 6 is in the process. Under these circumstances, we direct the respondents to complete the acquisition within a period of six months from date by passing an Award. All stages from Sections 6 to 11 shall be completed by the Land Acquisition Officer within a period of six months and the compensation as fixed may be paid to the petitioners immediately within a period of one month after the declaration of Award. 2. No doubt the earlier Writ Petition has permitted the petitioners to raise every ground relating to compensation before the Land Acquisition Officer. Usually, the Land Acquisition Officer takes into consideration the compensation payable from the date of the Notification under Section 4 till passing of the Award under the Land 4 Acquisition Act,1894. But in the present matter the possession has been taken in June, 2004, and therefore, till issuance of the Notification under Section 4 the compensation will have to be calculated. Such compensation as per the Government Resolution has to be rental compensation and therefore, if the Award is declared and the compensation as mentioned in the Award has been paid to the petitioners, the Land Acquisition Officer shall also initiate the proceedings in respect of the fixation of the rental compensation for the period from June, 2004 to 5th April, 2009 i.e. the date of the declaration of the Notification under Section 4, as per the entitlement of the petitioners and as per the Government Resolution governing the payment of rental compensation. The said exercise should be carried out by the respondents within a period of two months from the date of the declaration of Award under Section 11 and thereafter, the amount of rental compensation shall be paid to the 5 petitioners within a period of 15 days. Needless to state that the procedure as contemplated under the law has to be followed by the Authorities. The Authorities after the declaration under Section 6 is issued may proceed with the acquisition expeditiously and need not wait till the outer limit expires, because in the present case the land has already been taken into possession and utilised for the excavation of the canal in question, the fixation of the compensation is the only thing remaining to be done therefore, taking into consideration the facts as above, the aforesaid directions have been given by this Court, the Authorities shall take into consideration all the aforesaid facts and complete the acquisition within a period of six months as directed above. 3. With the aforesaid directions, the Writ Petition is disposed of. ( R.M.SAVANT, J. ) ( S.B.MHASE, J. ) 6