LAWS(DLH)-1981-12-14

ABDUL WAHID Vs. UNION OF INDIA

Decided On December 14, 1981
ABDUL WAFFLD Appellant
V/S
UNION OF INDIA Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This case is a good example of law's delays. We have taken 15 years to decide this suit. So many years in the court of first instant. How many more years it will take in the appellate courts no one 'knows.

(2.) Abdul Wahid, Mohd. Umar and Mohd. Sadiq sons of Mohd. Hassan are admittedly owners of extensive lands comprised in Khasra Nos. 5361182, 5381189, 185, 188, 177, 176, 180, 183,. 184, 187,6311535(182, 186, ,179, 178 and 5371189 admeasuring 39 bighas, 4 biswas (=39,514sq.yds. or thereabout) situated in village Rajpur Chawni, Tehsil and District Delhi. The area where the lands were situated is called Gur Ki Mandi. The owners were in possession of the land.

(3.) In the wake of partition the Parliament passed an Act in 1948 called The Resettlement of Displaced Persons (Laid Acquisition) Act, 1948 (Act No. IX of 1948) (the Act). The- object of this legislation was "to provide for speedy acquisition of land for the resettlement of displaced persons", as the preamamble stated. The Government was empowered to acquire land for providing homes to those who had been rendered homeless. 1947 was the year of the Great Divide. India was split in two dominions Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan. There was a great migration of population the greatest in history. Millions moved into India. "They were all children of the midnight. The midnight of August 15, 1947. At the stroke of the midnight hour India awoke to freedom, as Nehru said. Freedom at midnight. But the transfer of populations brought untold suffering. Gandhi had given the clarion call of freedom. Now he said : "we will wipe every tear from every eye." Millions had left their hearths and homes behind. They had been uprooted from the land of their birth. They all had to be resettled. New abodes had to be found. This was a great and sudden emergency. Everything had to be done on a war footing to give relief. So the Parliament passed the Act for the "speedy acquisition of land."