RAMGIR UTTAMGIR GOSWAMI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal against the judgment of a Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court dismissing a writ petition filed by the appellant herein. The appeal has been filed on a certificate of fitness granted by the Gujarat High Court under Art. 133(1 )(c) of the Constitution.

(2.) The main challenge in the writ petition was to the vires of Secs. 4 and 6 respectively of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. That challenge no longer survives in view of the validity of the sections having been upheld by this Court in Manubhai Jethalal Patel v. State of Gujarat, 1983(4) SCC 553. The lands in question are situated at village Bhairav, taluka Kamreje, district Surat, Gujarat. The said lands are situated on the bank of the river Tapti which is known for its frequent floods and the lands are covered in Survey No. 2. The said lands admeasure 1 acre and 39 gunthas. We propose to refer to the said lands in the aggregate as 'the said land' the said land is also known as the 'Maksheshwar Mahadev' land. The appellant claims to be the occupant and owner of the entire land comprising in Survey No. 2 which includes the said land. It may be mentioned that the claim of the appellant to be the owner and occupier of 'the said land' is based on his being the senior member of his family but we are not concerned with that question as we propose to proceed on the footing that he is in actual occupation of the said land. The preliminary notification declaring the intention to acquire the said land was issued under Sec. 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and published in the Government Gazette of the State of Gujarat on April 30, 1970. It was notified that the proposed acquisition was for a public purpose, namely, for extension of the village site of the village Bhairav. It is common ground that the extension of the village site was required for the purpose of housing 12 families who had been rendered homeless because of floods in Tapti river. An individual notice under Sec. 4 of the Land Acquisition Act was served on the appellant on May 2, 1970. The appellant filed his objections against the proposed acquisition on May 12, 1970 and filed additional objections on June 20, 1970 and July 6, 1970 respectively. After consideration and rejection of the said objections, the notification for acquisition of the lands under Sec. 6 of the Land Acquisition Act was issued on December 8, 1970. Notice under Sec. 9 of the Land Acquisition Act were issued on January 8, 1971. The said acquisition was challenged by the appellant in the writ petition on various grounds.

(3.) The main ground on which the said acquisition was challenged in the writ petition was that the provision of Secs. 4 and 6 respectively of the Land Acquisition Act were ultra vires the Constitution of India. That challenge, as we have already pointed out, has been finally negatived by this Court. In view of this, Mr. Mehta fairly conceded that the vires of Secs. 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act could no longer be called in question before us. It was however, pointed out by him that the said notification was also challenged on some other grounds.