CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO. 480 OF 2004 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. DATE OF DECISION: July 11 , 2011. Parties Name M/s Sterimed Medical Devices Pvt. Ltd. ...PETITIONER VERSUS State of Haryana and others ...RESPONDENTS CORAM: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Jasbir Singh Hon'ble Mr. Justice Augustine George Masih PRESENT: Mr. J.S.Sidhu, Advocate, for the petitioner Mr. Kamal Sehgal, Addl. A.G., Haryana; Mr. Dhiraj Chawla, Advocate, for HSIDC. Jasbir Singh, J. (oral) JUDGMENT This order will dispose of two writ petitions, i.e., Civil Writ Petitions No. 480 and 481, both of the year 2004. For facility of dictating order, facts are being taken from CWP No. 480 of 2004. By filing this writ petition, the petitioners have laid challenge to a notification issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, (in short the Act) on January 9, 2002, (P-17) proposing to acquire a vast track of land, for a public purpose, namely, for development of industrial area in villages Kassar, Sankhol and Saidpur, tehsil Bahadurgarh, district Jhajjar. Further challenge has been laid to a declaration issued under Section 6 of the Act on September 6, 2002 (P-18). These writ petitions were being heard along with many other CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO. 480 OF 2004 -2- writ petitions. Taking note of a fact that in some cases, the State Government has released land in favour of the land owners, directions were issued to the official respondents file a consolidated affidavit affirming that fact, which accordingly was filed in M/S SPL Limited v. State of Haryana and others, (CWP No. 7218 of 2002), stating that some relief can also be given to the petitioner on the specified terms and conditions mentioned in that affidavit. // In the affidavit, filed by Shri T.L.Satyaprakash, Joint Secretary to Government of Haryana, Industries and Commerce Department, Chandigarh, dated April 19, 2011, qua the petitioners, it was stated as under: “11.6 a) CWP No. 480 of 2004 – M/s Stermed Medical Devices Pvt. Ltd. The petitioner company has claimed that they are owners of part of land comprising in Khasra Nos. 36//21(7-0), 49//1(3- 11) and 50//5 (0-2) of village Sankhol tehsil Bahadurgarh, district Jhajjar. It is submitted that a perusal of sale deed attached with the writ petition reveals that the petitioner company is also the owner of land comprising in khasra Nos. 36//22/1 and 49//2/1 of village Sankhol, but, these land parcels were not forming part of notifications issued under Section 4 of the Act. The land comprising in khasra Nos. 36//21, 49//1 and 50//5 of village Sankhol were notified for acquisition vide notifications dated 09.01.2002 and 06.09.2002 issued under Section 4 and 6 of the Act. It is further stated that as per the report of the LAC, Jhajjar, the petitioner company did not file objection under Section 5-A of the Act for release of their land CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO. 480 OF 2004 -3- from acquisition. The LAC, Jhajjar, announced the Award of the land on 23.12.2003. It is also submitted here that the petitioner had approached the Hon'ble Court after the announcement of the Award. The Hon'ble Court vide order dated 13.01.2004 had stayed the dispossession of the land after the date of exercise for handing over of possession, i.e. , after 23.12.2003. It is further submitted that as the possession of the land has been taken over and passed on to the HSIIDC, the State Government is not competent to release these land parcels as per the provisions of Section 48 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. However, the Government also recognizes that it is a running industrial unit established prior to the issuance of Section 4 notification. It may be submitted here that this case is similar to the one explained at paragraph No. 11(b) of this affidavit. As per the policy decision taken by the Board of Directors of HSIIDC in its meeting held on 22.10.2008 with a view to accommodating above type of cases, it is agreeable to allot the said land measuring 2 kanals 13 marlas land comprising in khasra Nos. 36//21(7-0), 49//1( 3-11) and 50//5 (0-2) ¼ share, of village Sankhol, tehsil Bahadurgarh, district Jhajjar, to these landowners in view of the above policy decision subject to the conditions mentioned in paragraph 12 of this affidavit. The land pockets of the petitioner are shown in layout plan CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO. 480 OF 2004 -4- annexed as Annexure R-1 for kind perusal of the Hon'ble Court. b) CWP No. 481 of 2004- M/s Stermed Biotech Pvt. Ltd. The petitioner company has claimed that they are owners of part of land comprising in Khasra Nos. 36//21 (7-0), 49//1(3- 11) and 50//5 (0-2) of village Sankhol, tehsil Bahadurgarh, district Jhajjar. It is submitted that a perusal of sale deed attached with the writ petition reveals that the petitioner company is also the owner of land comprising in khasra Nos. 36//22/1 and 49//2/1 of village Sankhol, but these land parcels were not forming part of notifications issued under Section 4 of the Act. The land comprising in khasraNos. 36//21, 49//1 and 50//5 of village Sankhol, were notified for acquisition vide notifications dated 09.01.2002 and 06.09.2002 issued under Section 4 and 6 of the Act. It is further stated that the petitioner company did not file objection under Section 5-A of the Act for release of their land from acquisition. The LAC, Jhajjar, announced the Award of the land on 23.12.2003. It is also submitted here that the petitioner had approached the Hon'ble Court after the announcement of the Award. The Hon'ble Court vide order dated 13.01.2004 had stayed the dispossession of the land after the date of exercise for handing over of possession i.e. after 23.12.2003. It is further submitted that as the possession of the land now vests with HSIIDC, the State Government is not competent to CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO. 480 OF 2004 -5- release these land parcels as per the provisions of Section 48 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. However, the Government also recognizes that it is a running industrial unit established prior to the issuance of Section 4 notification. It may be submitted here that this case is similar to the one explained at paragraph No. 11(b) of this affidavit. As per the policy decision taken by the Board of Directors of HSIIDC in its meeting held on 22.10.2008 with a view to accommodating above type of cases, it is agreeable to allot the land measuring 2 Kanals 13 Marlas land comprising in khasra Nos. 36//21(7-0), 49//1(3-11) and 50//5(0-2) ¼ share, of village Sankhol, tehsil Bahadurgarh, district Jhajjar, to these land owners in view of the above policy decision subject to the conditions mentioned in paragraph 12 of this affidavit. The land pockets of the petitioner in layout plan annexed as Annexure R-1 for kind perusal of the Hon'ble Court.” It is an admitted fact that the petitioners had not filed any objection under Section 5-A of the Act to the proposed acquisition. They have filed these writ petitions after passing of an Award qua the acquisition in dispute. In the affidavit now filed by Shri T.L.Satyaprakash, it is mentioned that the land shall be allotted in favour of the petitioners as per terms and conditions of the policy prepared by the Board of Directors of HSIIDC on October 22, 2008 and also subject to the conditions as mentioned in para No. 12 of the affidavit, which reads thus: CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO. 480 OF 2004 -6- “12. That the State Government has decided to release the land parcels, mentioned above, subject to the following conditions: “i) The petitioners will transfer part of any land required for construction and widening of roads free of costs to HSIIDC; ii)If any exchange of land is required for proper integration of planning, the petitioners will not object to such a proposal of HSIIDC; iii)The petitioners will pay the development charges to HSIIDC as per policy decision applicable in such type of cases; iv)The petitioners will withdraw ongoing court cases.” Counsel for the petitioner states that he has got instructions from the petitioner to say that the terms and conditions of the allotment, as mentioned in the affidavit and the policy dated October 22, 2008, are acceptable to the petitioner. In view of facts, mentioned above, these writ petitions are disposed of in view of agreed stand taken by the parties. The State Government is directed to allot land, in dispute, to the petitioner(s) as per the conditions of the affidavit and the policy, referred to above. The needful shall be done within a period of two months from the date of receipt of copy of this order. ( Jasbir Singh ) Judge (Augustine George Masih) Judge July 11, 2011 DKC