Tamil Nadu Housing Board vs M. Meiyappan & Ors

3. The material facts, giving rise to the present appeal, may be stated thus:

4. On 17th February 1979, the Government in their G.O.M. No. 311 Housing and Urban Development Department approved the notification under Section 4(1) of the Act. As stated above, the said notification was published in the official gazette on 7th March 1979. 2

6. On 15th March 1982, notices under Section 9(1) and 10 of the Act were issued? Notices under Section 9(3) and 10 of the Act were served on the owners of the lands and the interested persons. Enquiry, as envisaged under Section 11 of the Act, was conducted on 16th April 1982, 20th April 1982, 21st April 1982 and 22nd April 1982. Land owners of the land, subject matter in this appeal, were represented by their authorised agent, one Mr. A.R. Rathinam Chettiar.

7. The Award in relation to the said lands was made on 28th April 1982, and the compensation was awarded to O.M.SP.L.M. Meyyappa Chettiar, Subramanian Chettiar, Arunachalam Chettiar, Alagappa Chettiar and Lakshmanan Chettiar. According to the appellant, after taking possession of the lands in question, on 4th December 1982, these were handed over to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board, which fact is now disputed by the contesting respondents. The matter rested there. 3

8. However, in December 1997, respondents Nos.1 - 17 herein preferred a writ petition being W.P. No. 108 of 1998 before the High Court of Madras, challenging the acquisition of their lands, which was contested by the appellant. One of the objections in the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the appellant in this appeal was as follows:

10.Aggrieved by the said order, the appellant herein, preferred intra-court appeal before the Division Bench of the High Court. It appears from the 4 record that along with the appeal, an application seeking stay of the operation of the judgment delivered by the learned Single Judge, was also filed, wherein it was stated that upon delivery of the said judgment, the land owners were taking hectic steps to enter into possession of the subject lands. The Division Bench again without examining the question of delay and laches, by the impugned judgment, dismissed the appeal of the appellant observing that:

14.At the outset, we must state that on the facts of this case, the High Court was not justified in entertaining the writ petition. In our opinion, the writ 2 (1994-2) 107 P.L.R. 144 3 1988 PLJ 525 6 petition must fail on the short ground that the writ petition had been filed 16 years after the award was announced by the Collector. It is trite law that delay and laches is one of the important factors which the High Court must bear in mind while exercising discretionary power under Article 226 of the Constitution. If there is such negligence or omission on the part of the petitioner to assert his right which, taken in conjunction with the lapse of time and other circumstances, causes prejudice to the opposite party, the High Court must refuse to invoke its extra-ordinary jurisdiction and grant relief to the writ petitioner.

23.In light of the view we have expressed, we deem it unnecessary to evaluate the merits of other submissions canvassed by learned counsel for both the parties.

24.For the reasons aforesaid, the impugned judgment cannot be sustained. Accordingly, the appeal is allowed; the impugned judgment is set aside and the writ petition, filed by respondent Nos. 1 to 17 in this appeal, stands dismissed.

25.Parties to bear their own costs.

OCTOBER 29, 2010.