TAJMOHMAD HUSSAINKHAN PATHAN Vs. V J RAGHUVANSHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Survey No. 3 admeasuring approximately 7. 51 acres situate in the Ahmedabad Cantonment area is undisputedly owned by the Union Government. The said land was leased to the petitioner from time to time since 1937. The last of such leases was for a period of five years commencing from June 1 1968 The said lease expired on May 31 1973 On May 29 1973 the Assistant Military Estates Officer the first respondent herein issued a notice which was served upon the petitioner on May 30 1973 calling upon him to handover vacant possession of the leased land on the date of the expiry of the lease. The petitioner has thereupon filed the present petition challenging the said notice.

(2.) Two points were urged at the hearing of the petition. First that the provisions of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act 1948 (hereinafter referred to as the Tenancy Act) applied to the land in question and that the petitioner was a tenant entitled to the protection of the said Act and that as such he could not be evicted except in accordance with the provisions of the Tenancy Act. Secondly that under the cover of the impugned notice the first respondent was seeking to take law into his own hands and intending to evict the petitioner otherwise than in due course of law and that such an action was illegal and ultra vires.

(3.) It will be convenient to first dispose of the second contention urged on behalf of the petitioner. Mr. K. G. Vakharia learned advocate appearing on behalf of the first respondent stated to the Court that the impugned notice was no more than a request to the petitioner to hand over vacant possession on the termination of the lease and that the respondents did not intend to dispossess the petitioner otherwise than in due course of law. In view of this clear statement made on behalf of the first respondent the second contention based on an apprehension that the petitioner would be forcibly dispossessed otherwise than in accordance with law does not survive.