In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh CWP No. 4767 of 2008 Date of decision: 25.3.2008 Uddar Gagan Properties Pvt. Ltd. and others ......Petitioners Versus State of Haryana and others .......Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SABINA Present: Mr.Girish Agnihotri, Sr. Advocate with Mr.Suman Jain, Advocate, for the petitioners. **** JUDGMENT SURYA KANT, J. This order shall dispose of CWP Nos.4767 of 2008, 4808 of 2008 and 4809 of 2009 as common questions of law and facts are involved therein. For the sake of brevity, the facts are being taken from CWP No.4767 of 2008. Notice of motion. Ms.Palika Monga, AAG, Haryana accepts notice on behalf of the respondents. In view of the nature of order which we propose to pass, we do not deem it necessary to seek any reply to the writ petition by CWP No. 4767 of 2008 -2- the respondents. In this civil writ petition, the petitioners seek a writ in the nature of Mandamus to direct the respondents to consider their claim for granting licence to set up a group housing/residential/commercial colony in respect of land measuring 23.61 acres situated at Village Garhi Bohar and Village Khedi Sadh falling in Sector 27, District Rohtak. Petitioner Nos.2 to 73 were owners of the subject land, whereas, petitioner No.1-a colonizer, is stated to have collaborated with them vide agreement dated 2.3.2005 (Annexure P-5) to develop their land as a group housing/residential/commercial sector. The land in question, however, is part of a big chunk of land, which was decided to be acquired by the State of Haryana vide notification dated 11.4.2002 (Annexure P-3) issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and in respect of which a notification under Section 6 of the Act was issued on 8.4.2003 (Annexure P-4). The above stated acquisition, however, came to be challenged on behalf of the petitioners before this Court. Before that the petitioners had moved an application dated 21.3.2005 (P-8) seeking grant of licence under Section 3 of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975 for setting up of a residential colony on the land measuring 84.04 acres. Their application was accepted by the respondents to the extent that even after passing of the award on 6.4.2005, the State Government CWP No. 4767 of 2008 -3- released the land measuring 60.43 acres and decided to grant licence to the petitioners to develop the same as a group housing/residential/commercial colony vide memo dated 19.6.2006 (Annexure P-12), however, subject to the condition that the petitioners shall withdraw their writ petition pending before this Court. The petitioners, accordingly, withdrew the writ petition though with liberty to file a fresh one in respect of remaining land for which no licence was proposed to be granted. Meanwhile, the petitioners have been granted licence on 1.9.2006 for the land measuring 60.43 acres. In the present writ petition, the petitioners' grievance is that their application for the grant of licence for setting up of the residential colony etc. in respect of the remaining piece of land measuring 23.61 acres is pending consideration for a considerably long period, however, no decision whatsoever is being taken by the respondents. After hearing learned counsel for the parties and without going into the merits of the petitioners' claim, we deem it appropriate to dispose of this writ petition with a direction to the respondents to consider the petitioners' application for the grant of licence for the remaining land measuring 23.61 acres and dispose it of, in accordance with law and as per the Government policy within a period of three months from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order. We, however, direct that till the above stated application is decided, status quo with regard to possession CWP No. 4767 of 2008 -4- be maintained by the parties, which would mean that the petitioners shall also not raise any construction or change the nature of the above stated piece of land in any manner. (SURYA KANT) JUDGE (SABINA) March 25, 2008 JUDGE anita