D ACHIAH CHETTY Vs. STATE OF MYSORE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These seven Writ Petitions arise out of certain land acquisition proceedings taken in respect of a certain extent of land comprised in Survey No. 2 of Raj Mahal Village, Kasba Hobli, Bangalore North Taluk, initiated under Notification No. LLH 281 IAQ 58 made by the Government of Mysore under sub-section (1) of section 4 of the Mysore Land Amending Act of 1894, (Mysore Act VII of 1894), and published in the Mysore Gazette dated the 7th of May 1959. The final notification under section 6 of the act bearing No. RDH 4 LTB 59 dated the 14th of October 1959, was published in the Mysore Gazette dated the 15th of October 1959. The former notification opened with a statement that it appeared to the Government of Mysore that the land specified therein was needed for a public purpose to wit for Raj Mahal Vilas Lay-out. In the latter one, the Government declared that the property specified therein be the same a little more or less, was needed for a public purpose to wit for Raj Mahal Lay-out, and appointed the Special Land Acquisition Officers, City Improvement Trust Board, Bangalore, to perform the functions of the Deputy Commissioner under the land Acquisition Act.

(2.) The petitioners, who before the publication of the preliminary notification had become owners of different portions of the land proposed to be acquired, impugn the validity of the two notifications mentioned above and the competence or regularity of the proceedings taken or proposed to be taken pursuant thereto. They pray for the issue of appropriate Writs or directions quashing the said notifications and/or directing the respondents to forbear from acting on the said notifications and proceeding with the acquisition of the petitioners lands and from interfering with their possession thereof. The State of Mysore and the Special land Acquisition Officer of the City Improvement Trust Board, Bangalore, are impleaded as respondents in all these petitions. The third respondent in W.P. No. 1076 of 1959 is a co-owner with the petitioner of the land concerned in that petition. In W.P. No. 270 of 1960, instead of the Special Land Acquisition Officer of the Board, the Board itself represented by its Chairman is impleaded as respondent in addition to the State of Mysore. In W.P. No. 360 of 1960, in addition to the State and the Special Land Acquisition Officer of the Board, the Secretary to the Government of Mysore in the Department of Local Self Government and Public Health has been impleaded as a respondent, apparently for the reason that he is the Officer who has signed or authenticated the impugned notifications. In substance however, the prayer in all the petitions is for the issue of Writ of Mandamus against the State and the Special Land Acquisition Officer of the City Improvement Trust Board directing them to forbear from acting on the notifications and taking proceedings for acquisition pursuant thereto, on the ground that the notifications and the entire proceedings purported to be taken pursuant thereto the incompetent and opposed to law.

(3.) Survey No. 2 of the Raj Mahal Village was the property of his Highness the Maharaja of Mysore. Sometime before 1955, that land appears to have been divided into plots in accordance with a sketch said to have been prepared by the Superintendent of the Bangalore Palace, and the several plots subsequently sold, gifted or otherwise transferred by His Highness. The petitioner and the third respondent in W.P. 1076 of 1959, are the purchasers of Plot No. 18 having purchased the same from Smt. L. M. Sivamma, wife of one Sardar Major Mahedeviah, Personal Secretary to the Maharaja of Mysore under a deed dated the 22nd of December 1958. Their vendor had purchased it from His Highness the Maharaja under a sale deed dated the 15th of December 1957. The petitioners in W.P. 1083 of 1959 who are sisters purchased plot No. 15 from His Highness the Maharaja on 28.5.1956. Plot No. 5 was gifted by His Highness the Maharaja to the petitioner in W.P. 1087 of 1959, under a registered document dated 10.3.1959. The petitioner in W.P. 85 of 1960 purchased Site No. B in plot No. 11 on the 26th of May 1958, from Sivamma, wife of Mahadeviah mentioned above. The petitioner in W.P. 270 of 1960 States that she is the owner of a piece of land measuring 5.19 acres out of section No. 2 of Raj Mahal Village without giving further particulars. The petitioner in W.P. 359 of 1960 purchased plot No. 6 from His Highness the Maharaja of Mysore under a sale deed dated 25.11.1957. The petitioner in Writ Petition 360 of 1960, is the purchaser of site No. A in plot No. 6 from His Highness the Maharaja under a sale deed dated 16.12.1957.