IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.559 of 2011 Date of decision: 17.1.2011 Gurmit Singh and others …..Petitioners versus Chandigarh Adminsitration through its Secretary and others ……Respondents CORAM: Hon’ble Mr.Justice Jasbir Singh Hon’ble Mr.Justice Rakesh Kumar Garg Present: Mr.S.D.Sharma, Senior Advocate with Mr.Anupam Sharma, Advocate for the petitioners Jasbir Singh, J. (Oral) This writ petition has been filed with a prayer to quash a notification, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (in short, the Act) on 1.2.2008 (P2), proposing to acquire 2.92 acres of land situated in village Attawa, Chandigarh, for a public purpose, namely, ‘for alignment of slip road to obviate accidents’. Further challenge has been made to a declaration, issued under Section 6 of the Act on 21.1.2009 (P4). Still further, challenge has been made to an order passed on 28.12.2010, rejecting representation of the petitioners, for release of above said land. It is contention of Mr.S.D.Sharma, learned Senior Advocate that in the year 2005, the respondents made an attempt to acquire this very land and a notification under Section 4 read with Section 17 of the Act was issued on 6.12.2005. However, on objections raised by the land owners, the said notification was not pursued further. It is stated that without any Civil Writ Petition No.559 of 2011 justification, the notifications have now been issued to acquire 2.92 acres of land, which are under challenge. The land under acquisition falls within the Abadi deh, houses, shops and Gurdwara are in existence thereon. If acquisition is allowed to proceed further, the above said buildings are bound to be demolished. By making reference to the site plan (P6), counsel for the petitioners raised an objection that at all the road intersections, open space left next to the metalled road is 20’, whereas in a malafide manner, the open space next to the metalled road has been increased to 35’ by ordering acquisition in dispute. By stating as above, a prayer has been made to quash the notifications under challenge. After hearing counsel for the petitioners, we feel that at their instance, it is not possible for us to interfere in the process of acquisition of the land. We have seen the photographs (P7) put on record. Perusal thereof shows that the petitioners had constructed commercial establishments with opening on the main road. It is not in dispute that village Attawa is one of the three/four places in Chandigarh, where opening of the shops has been permitted on the main road. As per common practice, as and when the customers come to these shops, they will park their vehicles and thus creating a situation, in which, probability of an accident will increase. Photographs on record also clearly strengthen above said view. How much space is needed at a particular place, depends upon intensity of traffic on that section of the road and furthermore, it is in the domain of the experts to visualize as to whether a slip road needs to be constructed or not. In the present case, land has been acquired to prevent the accidents. Only a strip of land running into 8’ to 15 has been ordered to be acquired for the above said purpose, which definitely will release 2 Civil Writ Petition No.559 of 2011 pressure of traffic in the area and chance of accidents will also decrease. No case is made out for interference. Dismissed. (Jasbir Singh) Judge 17.01.2011 (Rakesh Kumar Garg) gk Judge 3