STATE OF BIHAR Vs. MADAN LAL JAIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) - Heard counsel. Special leave granted.

(2.) The respondent Madan Lal Jain, filed an application for grant of a lease of laterite deposits in the village Bodda, district Palamau. That application was rejected by the State Government on Nov. 21, 1972. The respondent filed a revision application to the Central Government, which, by an order dated Nov. 8, 1974 directed the State Government to grant the lease in conformity with its order. Even after the order of Central Government, the State Government did not grant the lease to the respondent.

(3.) The case of the State Government is that the lease was not granted to the respondent because he was in large arrears of rent. So far as this question is concerned, the High Court has observed in its judgment dated Dec. 7, 1979 in the writ petition filed by the respondent, that the arrears "seem to be of a period subsequent to 1972 when the petitioner had filed a petition for grant of a lease," the State Government has ample powers to recover the arrears and that the fact that the respondent is in arrears cannot stand in the way of the State granting a lease to the respondent. Aggrieved by the judgment of the High Court the State of Bihar has filed this petition for special leave.