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b. While so, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, New Delhi ("the Ministry" for short), vide its orders dated 09.04.2007 and 27.04.2007, had conveyed the approval of the Government of India to transfer the leased out lands to NTPC Tamil Nadu Energy Company Limited ("NTECL" for short) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited ("HPCL" for short) respectively. Citing these orders, the Deputy Commissioner had issued an order dated 03.05.2007 addressed to each of the petitioners proposing to take over the area leased out to them, subject to payment of a certain sum as compensation by NTECL/HPCL as the case may be. The Deputy Commissioner had also stated in the said order that the amount of compensation would be arrived at between the petitioners and NTECL/HPCL by way of mutual negotiations and the leased out lands would be taken over on receipt of confirmation from NTECL/HPCL stating that they have compensated the petitioners. The relevant portion of the impugned orders passed by the Deputy Commissioner runs as under:
10. The learned Counsels for the respondents, per contra, have contended that based on the specific request for Salt Department lands by TNEB and HPCL, the stand taken by the Government of India in approving transfer of lands to NTECL and HPCL, bearing in mind the public and national interest prevailing over the interest of the individual petitioners, cannot be found fault with and so also the impugned orders of the Deputy Commissioner which have been passed based on the approval of the Government of India to transfer the leased out lands to NTECL/HPCL. In this regard, it is also their strong contention that the Deputy Commissioner cannot do away with the passing of impugned orders in view of the fact that the Government of India had already approved the request made by NTECL/HPCL for transfer of Salt Department lands in their favour and the impugned order dated 03.05.2007 is only an extension of the orders of the Government of India.
11. Countering the contention put forward by the learned Counsel for the petitioners that neither NTECL/HPCL has locus standi to call the petitioners for negotiations for determining the amount of compensation and that it is only the Deputy Commissioner who is liable to compensate the petitioners, the learned Counsels for the respondents have contended that since the Government of India had ordered transfer of Salt Department lands to NTECL/HPCL, the lease deeds entered into by the petitioners stand automatically terminated and the extinguishment of leasehold rights by the petitioners is the only activity which remains to be completed by accepting compensation from NTECL/HPCL in the process of transfer. In reply to the point raised by the learned Counsels for the petitioners that there is no privity of contract between the petitioners and NTECL/HPCL, the learned Counsels for the respondents have argued that even where compensation is payable under the proceedings initiated under the Land Acquisition Act, the requisitioning body is a party to the award proceedings before the Civil Court and as such, the question of privity of contract does not arise. In this regard, it has been brought to the notice of this Court that this transfer of Salt Department lands is not done for the first time as in an earlier occasion in 1999, the Salt Department lands located at Attiput had been transferred to the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) without any hassle.
21. In this connection, it needs to be stated here that the Government of India had not suo motu approved transfer of lands to NTECL / HPCL. The background of such a stand taken by the Government of India is the requests made by TNEB and HPCL for transfer of Salt Department lands. Firstly, it is seen from the counter of the Deputy Commissioner that acute power crisis faced by the State due to industrial development and also mushrooming of new residential apartments have necessitated and pushed the State to generate more power to meet the power requirement and accordingly, as a result of the deliberations between the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and the Union Minister for Power of the Government of India, it has been decided to establish new 2 x 500 MW Thermal Power Station at Ennore and this project known as "NTECL" has been established by the National Thermal Power Corporation and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board as a joint venture. Similarly, it is also seen from the counter affidavit that HPCL had requested the Government of India for transfer of Salt Department lands so as to decongest its existing Petrol Oil Lubricant Terminal in Tondiarpet which is a thickly populated area and also to decongest the existing Chennai Port and to shift the handling of hazardous cargo in Salt Department lands where human dwelling is minimal. While this being the background, the Government of India had accorded its approval for transfer of lands to NTECL/HPCL though seized of the fact that the lease deeds are very much alive.