SHADI LAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner claims to be a displaced person having settled in Delhi immediately after the partition of the country. It has been admitted on behalf of the petitioner that he did not have a verified claim in his favour. The petitioner claims that he is the allottee of plot No. 16, Ward No. Xiii, Delhi, which had a superstructure in dilapidated condition at the time of allotment. It is further alleged by the petitioner that since the superstructure was unfit for habitation, he, with the consent of the Custodian, rebuilt the same at his own expense and spent Rs. 3,000/- thereon.

(2.) The petitioner applied for transfer of the above-mentioned property but his request was declined on the ground that the value of the plot was Rs. 10,615/-. The plot was, therefore, advertised for auction. The petitioner appealed against the valuation of the property and contended that in arriving at the figure of Rs. 10,615/- the value of the superstructure had been wrongly included. The appeal was dismissed on 16th June, 1960, by the Assistant settlement Commissioner with the observations that the value of the superstructure had not been included and Rs. 10,615/- was the assessed price of the plot. The plot was consequently auctioned but since the purchaser failed to pay the auction-money his initial deposit was forfeited. On 2nd June 1962, the limit of allotable property was raised from Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 15,000/- under rule 22 of the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Rules, 1955.

(3.) On 24th April, 1963, the petitioner applied to the Regional Settlement Commissioner that since the limit had been raised the property be transferred to him. This application was dismissed on 31st July, 1963, and on 7th March, 1964, the Deputy Chief Settlement Commissioner dismissed the petitioner's appeal principally on the ground that increase in the limit did not apply to vacant plots. The petitioner's under section 33 of the Displaced Persons ( Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954, was also dismissed by the Central Government on 2nd May, 1964. A press note was, however, issued by the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation (Annexure 'C' to the petition), the date of which has not been given in the press note, extending some further concessions to the displaced persons and declaring that evacuee plots in urban areas, on which the allottees had put up permanent structures with the permission of the Custodian in price to such allottees, if the price of a plot structure conformed to the municipal building byelaws and had been sanctioned by the local body.