STATE OF PUNJAB Vs. RAJA RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by the State of Punjab and two others, namely, the Collector, Rupar District and the Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil)-cum-Land Acquisition Collector, Rupar is on a certificate granted by a Division Bench of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in respect of its judgment in a Letters Patent Appeal holding the acquisition of the land in question to be bad in law on the ground that the Food Corporation of India for which the Land in question was sought to be acquired was not a Company within the meaning of S. 3 (e) of the Land Acquisition Act that the land had also not been acquired for a public purpose and that the State could acquire the land under that Act only for a public purpose or for the purpose of a Company.

(2.) The material facts of the case may be stated thus. Nine Biswas of the disputed land situated within the municipal area of Morinda in the District of Rupar was owned by respondent No. 1, Raja Ram, respondents Nos. 2 and 3 are Raja Ram's sons. The State of Punjab issued a notification dated December 17, 1968 under S. 4 read with S. 17 of the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 (hereinafter called "the L. A. Act"). The notification related to 15 different plots of land including the land of the present acquisition proceedings. The material portion of the notification is as follows:

(3.) Against the aforesaid notifications a writ petition was filed by respondents Nos. 1 to 3. The writ petition was heard by a single Judge of the High Court and was dismissed. The learned single Judge inter alia, found that the provisions of Part VII of the L. A. Act relating to the acquisition of land for Companies were not applicable to the present case as the Food Corporation of India (hereinafter called the Corporation) was a department of Government and not a Company within the meaning of S. 3 (e) of the L. A. Act although, undoubtedly, according to the learned Judge, there was no manner of doubt about the fact that the land in dispute was in fact being acquired for the Corporation and that the purpose for which the land had been acquired was a public purpose.