CWP No. 12630 of 2011 -1- IN THE PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. 12630 of 2011 Date of Decision: September 16, 2011 M/s Ascot Hotels & Resorts Limited …Petitioner Versus State of Haryana and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE THE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GURDEV SINGH Present: Mr. Shailendra Jain, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Kamal Sehgal, Addl. A.G., Haryana 1. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 2. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? M.M. KUMAR, J. 1. The instant petition under Article 226 of the Constitution challenges notification dated 07.08.2009 (P-5) issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for brevity 'the Act') and declaration made under Section 6 of the Act made on 02.03.2010 (P-9). The principal ground pleaded by the petitioner is that there has been no publication of notification under Section 4 of the Act in the locality, which is a mandatory requirement. There is no evidence on the record that any Munadi was effected in the locality as per requirement of Section 4 of the Act. The only evidence on record is entry in the Roznamcha Waqaiti dated 28.08.2009, which simply reproduces the notification issued under Section 4 of the Act and the Khasara numbers of the land intended to be acquired. CWP No. 12630 of 2011 -2- 2. The petitioner in para 7 of the petition has made specific averment that the notification under Section 4 of the Act was published in two daily newspapers and the official gazette as well. It is alleged that respondent No.2 i.e. District Revenue Officer-cum- Land Acquisition Collector, Karnal, failed to cause a public notice of the substance of the said gazette notification issued in the locality, which is third mandatory requirement. The Rapat Roznamacha dated 28.08.2009 (P-7) merely makes an entry in the register of Roznamcha Waqaiti and it does not show that any duly authorized person has caused publication of the notice in the local areas. 3. In response to the aforesaid averment in corresponding para 7 of the written statement filed by respondent No.1, there is no denial with regard to the aforesaid fact. That respondent No.1 has stated that the publication of the substance of notification at convenient places in the locality was to be carried by the Land Acquisition Collector and there was no averment asserting that it was ever carried. 4. In view of the aforesaid clear factual position, the question which needs to be answered is whether non-compliance with the provisions of Section 4 of the Act by failing to publish the notification in the locality would vitiate the acquisition proceedings. 5. Mr. Kamal Sehgal, learned Addl. A.G., Haryana, has fairly brought to our notice a Division Bench judgment of this Court rendered in bunch of cases including CWP No. 13217 of 2009 decided on 15.12.2010 (Virender Kumar and others v. State of CWP No. 12630 of 2011 -3- Haryana and others). The Division Bench after noticing the factum of omission to publish the notification in the locality has concluded that such a lapse would be fatal to the acquisition proceedings. The Division Bench has placed reliance on the observations made in para 6 and 7 of the judgment of Hon’ble the Supreme Court rendered in the case of Khub Chand and others v. State of Rajasthan and others, AIR 1967 SC 1074; Ajay Krishna Shinghal v. Union of India (1996) 10 SCC 721 and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. v. Darius Shapur Chenai (2005) 7 SCC 627. The Division Bench then proceeded to quash the acquisition proceedings on account of the aforesaid lapse. 6. As a sequel to the above discussion, we find that the matter is squarely covered by Hon’ble the Supreme Court judgments, which have been followed by a Division Bench of this Court in Virender Kumar’s case (supra). Accordingly, notification dated 07.08.2009 (P-5) issued under Section 4 of the Act is hereby quashed. Subsequent proceedings following the issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act are also quashed. 7. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of in the above terms. (M.M. KUMAR) ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE (GURDEV SINGH) JUDGE September 16, 2011 Atul