A. LALA, J. ( 1 ) THIS writ petition has been made by a Company by the pen of the Executive Director, the petitioner No. 2 herein. The prayer of the writ petition is to withdraw, revoke, recall and/or cancel notification being annexure 'j' to the writ petition and pass an order of exemption under section 20 (1 of the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 and various others consequential reliefs. ( 2 ) ON 17th February, 1976 the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 came into force. It appears from the records that an application was filed under section 20 of the Act on 6th December, 1976 for exemption of excess vacant land. On 13th December, 1976 a statement was filed by the petitioner No. 1 before the authority under section 6 (1) of the Act. On 12th August, 1981 a memo was issued by the Governmental Authority requesting the petitioner to remain present at site for enquiring in connection with the statement filed under section 6 (1) of the Act. On 17th August, 1981 the petitioner No. 2 on behalf of petitioner No. 1 informed the Competent Authority requesting for the purpose of granting further time for hearing under section 6 (1) of the Act and making a reference that they are going to make a revised application under section 20 of the Act before Special Secretary, Government of West Bengal within a week and a copy of which will be submitted to such Authority. However, it appears from the record that such revised application was received by the Authority on 18th September, 1981. On 14th September, 1981 an application was made for the necessary amendment of column 12 of annexure 'a' of the statement under section 6 (1) of the Act. On 14th May, 1986 an application was filed before the Special Secretary with a copy to the Competent Authority under the Act for granting of exemption of excess vacant land etc. A draft statement under section 8 (3) of the Act was issued by the Authority on 9th April, 1986 to the petitioner stating that there was an excess vacant land of 4105. 48 sq. mt. The petitioners were called upon to file objection within thirty days from the service of such notice. A draft statement under section 8 (3) of the Act was issued by the Authority on 9th April, 1986 to the petitioner stating that there was an excess vacant land of 4105. 48 sq. mt. The petitioners were called upon to file objection within thirty days from the service of such notice. From column 7 of part A of such draft statement enclosed with the letter speaks that no vacant land exempted under section 20 of the Act. However, an objection was filed on 5th May, 1986. A notification was issued on 11th February, 1987 under section 10 (1) of the Act without finalisation of the draft statement on the basis of reply and/or objection of the petitioners and passing any order in connection with the application for exemption under section 20 of the Act. The petitioner has challenged the same by filing the writ petition immediately thereafter and obtained an interim order in connection with the impugned order. Although the respondent appeared as per the record and obtained directions for filing affidavit but neither any affidavit has been filed at least not in the record, nor appeared at the time of hearing the matter either under the heading 'old matters' or under the heading 'old adjourned matters' or for orders (old matters ). ( 3 ) FROM section 8 sub-section (4) it is crystal clear that the competent authority shall duly consider any objection received but the same is not available in the present case. That apart section 9 speaks as follows: 9. Final Statement - After the disposal of the objections, if any, received under sub-section (4) of section 8, the competent authority shall make the necessary alterations in the draft statement in accordance with the orders passed on the objections aforesaid and shall determine the vacant land held by the person concerned in excess of the ceiling limit and cause a copy of the draft statement as so altered to be served in the manner referred to in sub-section (3) of the section 8 on the person concerned and where such vacant land is held under a lease, or a mortgage, or a hire-purchase agreement, or an irrevocable power of attorney, also on the owner of such vacant land. ( 4 ) THEREFORE, the question of final statement will come forward immediately after the disposal of the objections, if any, under section 8 (4) of the Act. ( 4 ) THEREFORE, the question of final statement will come forward immediately after the disposal of the objections, if any, under section 8 (4) of the Act. In the present case not only the reply and/or objections in respect of draft statement is available but the question of exemption of the excess land is also pending. Section 10 (1) of the Act is as follows: 10. Acquisition of vacant land in excess of ceiling limit - (1) As son as may be after the service of the statement under section 9 on the person concerned, the competent authority shall cause a notification giving the particulars of the vacant land held by such person in excess of the ceiling limit and stating that - (I) such vacant land is to be acquired by the concerned State Government; and (ii)the claims of all persons interested in such vacant land may be made by them personally or by their agents giving particulars of the nature of their interests in such land, to be published for the information of the general public in the Official Gazette of the State concerned and in such other manner as may be prescribed. ( 5 ) THEREFORE, it is further clear that all actions will be taken step by step as prescribed in law. Therefore, having not done, so, the authority concerned committed error in accordance with law and/or passed an illegal order by exceeding the jurisdiction or ignoring the material records for the purpose of doing the same. Under such circumstances there cannot be embargo for the writ Court to interfere with the same even if any alternative remedy is available particularly based on the judgment reported in 1998 (8) SCC 1 (Whirlpool Corporation v. Registrar of Trade Marks, Mumbai and Ors.) ( 6 ) I am delighted with two judgments of this Court. One is reported in 1981 (1) CHN 262 (Sajanendra Nath Tagore v. Competent Authority and Ors.) followed by 2002 (3) CHN 476 [ashawati Devi (Singh) v. Appellate Authority and Secretary, Urban Development Department and Ors. ]. Both are of the view either specifically or impliedly that before preparation of final statement under section 9, the application under section 20 has to be considered and disposed of by the Competent Authority prepares a draft statement in accordance with section 8 (1) of the Act. ]. Both are of the view either specifically or impliedly that before preparation of final statement under section 9, the application under section 20 has to be considered and disposed of by the Competent Authority prepares a draft statement in accordance with section 8 (1) of the Act. However, from a Full Bench decision of Gujarat High Court reported in AIR 1989 Gujarat 12 (M/s. Avanti Organisation, Rajkot and etc. v. The Competent Authority and Additional Collector, Urban Land Ceiling Act, Rajkot and Anr.) I find that there is no hard and fast rule of general application can be laid down. In all cases where an application for exemption is pending under section 20 (1) of the Act, everything must grind to a halt regardless of the nature of objection raised, if the objection relates to the vacant lands in respect of which exemption is claimed and the nature of objection is such that the decision on the exemption application would influence the decision of the competent authority. On the objection, if would be necessary to stop at the section 8 (3) stage rather than decide the objection against the objector and drive the party to an appeal. If on the other hand the objection has no relation to the lands in respect of which exemption is sought under section 20 (1), there is no reason why the competent authority should not proceed to deal with and dispose of the objection. The competent authority will, therefore, have to decide in each case in which an exemption application is pending whether or not to proceed beyond section 8 (3) stage. Ordinarily the process can be carried up to section 8 (3) stage and at that stage the competent authority must apply its mind whether having regard to the nature of the objections it would be desirable to pass an order adverse to the objectors under section 8 (4) notwithstanding the pendency of the exemption application. If the objection has no relevance to the lands in respect of which exemption is sought, there would be no reason why the competent authority should not proceed further up to the section 10 (2) stage. If the objection has no relevance to the lands in respect of which exemption is sought, there would be no reason why the competent authority should not proceed further up to the section 10 (2) stage. If the acquisition process is allowed to be completed before the exemption application under section 20 (1) is disposed of and if lands in respect of which exemption is claimed stand acquired and vest in the State Government, it would cause an anomalous position if the State Government ultimately decides to grant exemption in respect of the said lands. Such a situation can at best be avoided by arresting process at the end of section 20 (2) stage. ( 7 ) FROM the plain reading of section 10 (2) it appears as follows: (2) After considering the claims of the persons interested in the vacant land, made to the competent authority in pursuance of the notification published under sub-section (1), the competent authority shall determine the nature and extent of such claims and pass such orders as it deems fit. ( 8 ) THEREFORE, it is crystal clear that section 10 (2) has no independent role to play but to make a determination in connection with section 10 (1) of the Act. Hence, when the jurisdiction of the Court was invoked at the stage of section 10 (1) to arrest the proceedings because of going out of the hands. The petitioners cannot be blamed to wait till the stage of section 10 (2) or section 10 (3) for appeal if any. Neither of the judgment has been focused to the area of proceeding further irrespective of pendency of the genuine application under section 20 of the Act. Genuinity will come out from a process to be adopted transparently visible be it personal hearing, be it not, but it would not be inappropriate to say that the anomalous situation will be allowed to be prevailed in respect of the pendency of the application for exemption which has to be decided at section 8 (3) stage. No question of appeal can be arrived at since the point has not been taken at the initial stage of hearing in presence of the respondents in 1987 but submitted to the jurisdiction for filing affidavits and fail to attend even at this belated stage in spite of further service and filing of the affidavit of service. No question of appeal can be arrived at since the point has not been taken at the initial stage of hearing in presence of the respondents in 1987 but submitted to the jurisdiction for filing affidavits and fail to attend even at this belated stage in spite of further service and filing of the affidavit of service. ( 9 ) THEREFORE, the impugned notification under annexure 'j' to the writ petition stands quashed. The competent authority directed to hear out the matter expeditiously and pass a reasoned order thereon within a period of one month from the date of communication of this order. For the purpose of effective adjudication, a personal hearing will be given to the petitioners and the writ petition along with all the annexure in connection thereto be treated as part and parcel of application for hearing. Thus, the writ petition stands disposed of. No order is passed as to costs. Let an urgent xeroxed certified copy of this judgment, if applied for, be given to the learned advocates for the parties within two weeks from the date of putting the requisites. Petition disposed of.