R L ARORA Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution is a sequel to the Judgment of this Court in R. L. Arora v. State of U.P., (1962 ) 2 Suppl. SCR 149. The petitioner is the owner of the certain lands in village Nauraiya Khera, in the district of Kanpur. He got information in May 1956 that steps were being taken to acquire nine acres of his land for an industrialist in Kanpur. He therefore, wrote to the Collector of Kanpur in that connection. On June 25, 1956, however, a notification was issued under S.4 of the Land Acquisition Act , No. 1 of 1894 (hereinafter called the Act ), stating that the land in dispute was required for a company for the construction of textile machinery parts factory by Lakshmi Ratan Engineering Works Limited, Kanpur. This order was followed on July 5, 1956, by a notification under S.6 of the Act, which was in similar terms. This notification also provided for the Collector to take possession of any waste or arable land forming part of the land in the Schedule to the notification immediately under the powers conferred by S. 17 (1) of the Act. On July 31, 1956, the Collector took possession of the land and handed it over to the company along with some constructions standing on it. In the meantime, the petitioner filed a writ petition in the High Court on July 31, 1956, praying that the notification under S. 6 of July 1956 be quashed and also applied for interim stay. As however possession had already been taken on July 31, 1956, the application for interim stay became infructuous. One of the main grounds in support of the writ petition of July 31, 1956 was that Ss. 38 to 42 of the Act has not been complied with. Thereafter steps were taken by the State Government to comply with the provisions of Ss. 38 to 42 of the Act and an agreement was entered into between the Government and the company in August 1956 and was published in the Government Gazette on August 11, 1956. This was done without making any enquiry either under S. 5-A or S. 40 of the Act. Therefore on September 14, 1956 an inquiry was ordered by the Government under S.40. The Enquiry was accordingly made and the enquiry officer submitted a report on October 3, 1956. This was followed by a 'fresh agreement between the Government and the company on December 6, 1956. On December 7, 1956, a fresh notification was issued under S. 6 of the Act after the formalities provided under Ss. 38 to 42 had been complied with. Thereafter a fresh notice was issued under S.9 of the Act and it appears that possession was formally taken again after January 2, 1957.

(2.) A fresh writ petition was filed by the petitioner before the High Court on January 29, 1957 in view of the fresh action taken by the State Government and the main ground taken in this petition was that the notification was invalid as it was not in compliance with S. 40 (1) (b) of the Act read with the fifth clause of the matters to be provided in the agreement under S.41. The petitioner failed in the High Court. Thereafter he came by special leave to this Court. This Court decided on a construction of S. 40 (1) (b) read with the fifth clause of the matters to be provided in the agreement under S. 41 that these provisions had to be read together and required that the work should be directly useful to the public and that the agreement should contain a term as to how the public will have the right to use the work directly. The provision as to access to land or works for those having business with the company or the fact that the product would be useful to public was not considered sufficient to bring the acquisition for a company within the meaning of the relevant words in Ss. 40 and 41. The appeal therefore was allowed on December 1, 1961 and the last notification under S. 6 was quashed:see R.L. Arora's case. (supra).

(3.) On July 20, 1962, the Land Acquisition (Amendment ) Ordinance, 1962 (No. 3 of 1962) was promulgated by the President of India. By that Ordinance, Ss. 40 and 41 of the Act were amended and certain acquisitions of land made before the date of the Ordinance were validated notwithstanding any Judgment, decree or order of any court. The Ordinance was replaced by the Land Acquisition (Amendment ) Act , No. 31 of 1962, (hereinafter referred to as the Amendment Act ), which was made restrospective from July 20,1962 , the date on which the Ordinance was promulgated. This Act made certain amendments in Ss. 40 and 41 of the Act and validated certain acquisitions. The present petition challenges the validity of the amendments to Ss. 40 and 41 and also the validity of S. 7 of the Amendment Act by which certain acquisitions made before July 20, 1962 were validated. It is therefore necessary to read the amendments made in Ss. 40 and 41 of the Act as well as S.7 of the Amendment Act. In S. 40 (1) of the Act a new clause was inserted in these terms:-