IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ANTONY DOMINIC WEDNESDAY, THE 6TH JANUARY 2010 / 16TH POUSHA 1931 WP(C).No. 33838 of 2009(Y) -------------------------- PETITIONER(S): --------------- VARKALA MUNICIPALITY,REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY ,VARKALA PO, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM DT. BY ADV. SRI.J.S.AJITHKUMAR RESPONDENT(S): --------------- 1. THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. 2. SPECIAL TAHSILDAR, ADDL.L.A UNIT COLLECTORATE, TRIVANDRUM. 3. THE SECRETARY,REVENUE DEPARTMENT SECRETARIAT,TRIVANDRUM. 4. LAND REVENUE COMMISSIONER, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. MR.V.MANU, GOVERNMENT PLEADER THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 06/01/2010, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: Writ Petition No.33838/2009 APPENDIX PETITIONER'S EXHIBITS P1 : COPY OF THE ORDER NO.C6-7520/03 DATED 12/03/2004. P2 : COPY OF SHOW CAUSE NOTICE DATED 09/09/2004 OF THE KERALA STATE POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD. P3 : COPY OF RESOLUTION DATED 21/01/2006 OF THE COUNCIL OF VARKALA MUNICIPALITY. P4 : COPY OF ORDER DATED 26/05/2006 OF DIRECTOR OF CLEAN KERALA MISSION. P5 : CO0PY OF JUDGMENT DATED 06/11/2006 IN WP(C) NO.28214/2006 OF THIS HONOURABLE COURT. P6 : COPY OF AUTHORISATIN OF KERALA STATE POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD DATED 02/11/2006. P7 : COPY OF ORDER DATED 16/03/2007 OF THE GOVERNMENT. P8 : COPY OF ORDER DATED 28/04/2007 OF SECRETARY, L.A.D. P9 : COPY OF ORDER DATED 29/03/2007 IN WP(C) NO.5215/2007 OF THIS HONOURABLE COURT. P10 : COPY OF RESOLUTION DATED 10/01/2007. P11 : COPY OF JUDGMENT DATED 11/04/2007 IN CCC NO.331/2007 OF THIS HONOURABLE COURT. P12 : COPY OF JUDGMENT DATED 18/06/2007 IN WP(C) NO.5215/2007 OF THIS HONOURABLE COURT. P13 : COPY OF ORDER DATED 29/07/2009 IN PETITION NO.799/09 ON THE FILE OF OMBUDSMAN FOR LOACAL SELF GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. // TRUE COPY // PA TO JUDGE. jg ANTONY DOMINIC, J. ------------------------- W.P.(C.) No.33838 of 2009 (Y) --------------------------------- Dated, this the 6th day of January, 2010 J U D G M E N T The petitioner is Varkala Municipality. Prayer sought in this writ petition is to direct respondents 1 to 3 to complete the acquisition formalities under the Land Acquisition Act and hand over possession of 2.9 acres of land in survey Nos.3324 & 3325 of Varkala Municipality covered by Ext.P10 in compliance with Exts.P7, P8 & P13 for implementation of the Solid Waste Management Scheme. 2. Under orders of the Government of Kerala, Local Bodies, like the petitioner, are required to set up solid waste management plants. For the said purpose, the petitioner had purchased 1.9 acres of land, constructed the plant and Ext.P6 authorisation was issued by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board in terms of the provisions contained in the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and handling) Rules, 2000. The authorisation, inter alia, provided that the Municipality shall take immediate steps to acquire adjoining WP(C) No.33838/2009 -2- additional land and ensure that the total area available is a minimum of 3 acres. 3. In view of the above, the Municipality made a request to the Government to acquire the adjacent 2.9 acres of land situated in survey Nos.3324 & 3325. Accordingly, the matter was taken up with the Government and by Ext.P7 dated 16/03/2007, administrative sanction was accorded. This was followed by Ext.P8 dated 28/04/2007, by which the Government also permitted to invoke the urgency clause in the matter of acquisition of the land. 4. Meanwhile, several litigations were filed before this Court as also before the Ombudsman for Local Self Government Institutions in order to compel the Municipality to complete the process of implementation of the Scheme and orders have been passed in all such proceedings requiring the Municipality to expeditiously complete the project. However, there has not been any progress in the matter of acquisition of the land as sought for by the Municipality and as their appeals also did not evoke any response from the respondents, this writ petition has been filed in order to compel the respondents to complete the acquisition WP(C) No.33838/2009 -3- proceedings and hand over the land to the Municipality. 5. The learned Government Pleader, confirms the receipt of the requisition and also Exts.P7 & P8 orders passed by the Government. However, he submits that when documents were verified, certain discrepancies were found in the title deeds of the land owners of the area covered by the requisition made by the Municipality and that the documents are being verified. 6. As already seen, the requisition was made by the Municipality way back in January 2007. Administrative sanction was granted by the Government in March 2007 and urgency clause was permitted to be invoked in April, 2007. Since then, apart from the alleged ongoing verification of title deeds, there has not been any progress in the matter, much less any appreciable progress. This position continues even today in spite of the judgments rendered by this Court and Ext.P13 order passed by the Ombudsman, and this necessarily calls for expeditious action on the part of respondents 1 to 4. Having regard to the above, the writ petition is disposed of directing the 1st respondent to take expeditious action in the matter, WP(C) No.33838/2009 -4- if necessary, by completing the document verification process. It is directed that, as on date, if Section 4(1) notification has not been published, the same shall be published as expeditiously as possible not beyond two months of receipt of a copy of this judgment. Needless to say that once the process is completed invoking the urgency clause, necessary action for handing over the land will be taken. This writ petition is disposed of as above. (ANTONY DOMINIC, JUDGE) jg