Businessman Nusli Wadia and others like Maureen Wadia, Rajesh Batra and H S Srinivas are trustees of the Dinshaw Trust. As per a draft notification issued on June 1977, served under the Land Acquisition Act, the plot was to be acquired by the government. The final notification was served in July 1979.

The petitioner trust moved the court challenging the validity of the acquisition. They claimed that while the draft notification mentioned the land was acquired for staff quarters of the Post and Telegraph employees, the final notification mentioned it was for Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) employees. The petition was admitted in 1988 and an interim order stayed the possession of land by the Union of India.

The final order passed by the division bench of Justice Ashok Agarwal and S S Parkar today quashed theland acquisition proceedings. The grounds under which the acquisition was set aside are two-fold. First, under the Act, either the state or Central government acquires land or it delegates the power to another authority. In this case, the divisional commissioner, Konkan was asked to serve the draft notification. However, the commissioner was not asked to give the final notice. Therefore, the final order of acquisition is not within the commissioner's jurisdiction.

Second, the final notification should be issued within three years of the draft one, which is not the case here. Third, if an award is not passed within two years of serving the final notification, the entire proceedings will be vitiated.