RAMILABEN SOMCHANDRA SONI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition under Article -226 of the Constitution of India has been preferred, inter -alia, with a prayer to quash and set aside the impugned order dated 06.09.2002, passed by the Collector, Gandhinagar and the order dated 19.06.2003, passed by the Joint Secretary, Revenue Department (Appeals), State of Gujarat, whereby the plot of land allotted to the petitioner has been directed to be forfeited and vested in the State Government.

(2.) The brief factual background of the petition is briefly narrated hereinbelow.

(3.) Ms.Trusha K. Patel, learned advocate for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner is a widow who has two married daughters. The plot of land was allotted to her on 30.01.1991. The petitioner had given an Undertaking dated 21.03.1991, that neither she, nor her deceased husband, or dependents held any land or house in their names. It is submitted that this undertaking is absolutely true and correct. In fact, neither the petitioner nor her deceased husband or dependents were holding any land or residential premises in their names at the relevant point of time. It is submitted that earlier, on 01.04.1984, the petitioner was allotted a small flat admeasuring 36.95 sq.mtrs. in a Scheme floated by the Gujarat Housing Board. However, the petitioner had transferred her right of allotment in favour of one Vinodkumar Chandulal Soni, by a Deed dated 23.02.1988. The said Vinodkumar Chandulal Soni has, thereafter, paid the amount of the installments to the Gujarat Housing Board (GHB) as is evidenced by his signatures on the Challans that have been placed on the record of the petition. It is further submitted that the petitioner had no title in the flat allotted to her by the GHB, as no Conveyance Deed had ever been executed. In fact, after the transfer of her allotment to Vinodkumar Chandulal Soni, the Gujarat Housing Board executed a Conveyance Deed in favour of the wife of Vinodkumar Chandulal Soni, which is on record at Annexure -F. The Conveyance Deed is not an outright sale but a Hire Purchase Agreement, whereby the leasehold rights of the plot have been passed on by the Gujarat Housing Board to Binaben Vinodchandra Soni, for a period of 90 years. The petitioner, therefore, was never the owner of any plot or house, at the time when she applied for allotment of the plot on 14.12.1988. She had already transferred her allotment in favour of Vinodkumar Chandulal Soni before that, on 23.02.1988. It is submitted that the petitioner has not made any false statement, or given any false undertaking, therefore, the impugned order passed by the Collector, as confirmed by the Secretary (Appeals), having been rendered on a wrong premise, deserves to be quashed and set aside. It is further submitted that the petitioner has invested her life's savings in constructing a small house on the plot of land allotted to her and is living there. The authorities of the State Government have, apart from having proceeded on an incorrect footing, chosen to take extremely harsh action against the petitioner, for no fault of her own, which is unfair and unjustified.