LATABEN S SHAH Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By means of filing these petitions under Art. 226 of the Constitution, the petitioners have prayed to quash and set aside notification dated March 18, 1983 issued by the State of Gujarat under S.4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 ("Act" for short) in relation to land admeasuring 10,117 sq. ft. out of Survey No. 1125 situated in Palanpur City, District : Banaskantha for construction of Telephone Exchange and Staff Quarters. The petitioners have also urged to quash and set aside declaration dated March 25, 1985 made by the Government of Gujarat under S.6 of the Act to the effect that lands specified therein are needed at the public expenses for the purpose of construction of Telephone Exchange and Staff Quarters in Palanpur City. The petitioners have further petitioned to quash and set aside notice dated June 10, 1986 issued by the competent authority under S.9 of the Act calling upon the interested parties to declare nature/kind of interest they have in the lands mentioned in declaration made under S.6 of the Act and for claiming compensation pertaining to damages therefor. The petitioners have besides pressed to restrain the respondents from proceeding further consequent upon notification issued under S.4 of the Act as well as declaration made under S.6 of the Act and notice issued under S.9 of the Act and also from taking possession of the lands of the petitioners covered by declaration made under Sec. 6 of the Act. As common questions of facts and law are raised in the present three petitions, we propose to dispose of them by this common judgment.

(2.) By Government of India Notification, Ministry of Food, Agriculture Community Development and Co-operation No. 4/1/65m Gen. II, dated 23-4-1966 issued under clause (1) of Art. 258 of the Constitution of India, the functions of the Central Government under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (I of 1894) in relation to the acquisition of land for the purpose of the Union within the territory of the State of Gujarat have been entrusted to the Government of Gujarat. It appeared to the Government of Gujarat that land approximately admeasuring 10,117 sq. mts. out of Survey No. 1125, situated in Palanpur City, District : Banaskantha was likely to be needed for public purpose, i.e., for construction of Telephone Exchange and Staff Quarters. The Government of Gujarat, therefore, issued notification under S.4(1) of the Act making it public that land approximately admeasuring 10,117 sq. mts. out of Survey No. 1125 situated in Palanpur City was likely to be needed for the purpose of construction of Telephone Exchange and Staff Quarters. The Government of Gujarat had appointed Deputy Collector, Palanpur to perform the functions of the Collector under the Act with reference to the lands in question. The notification issued by the Government of Gujarat under S.4(1) of the Act is produced by the petitioners at Annexure-A to the petition. On publication of notification as required by S.4(1) of the Act, the petitioners of Special Civil Application No. 5618 of 1986 and Special Civil Application No. 708 of 1988 lodged objections with the Deputy Collector, Palanpur. The Deputy Collector, Palanpur considered the objections and other relevant materials and thereafter submitted report as contemplated by sub-S.(2) of S.5-A of the Act to the Government. After considering the report of Deputy Collector, Government of Gujarat made declaration under S.6 of the Act to the effect that the lands specified therein are needed for the public purpose of construction of Telephone Exchange and Staff Quarters. The declaration made by the Government of Gujarat under S.6 of the Act is produced by the petitioners at Annexure-B to the petition. The Deputy Collector, Palanpur issued notice dated June 10, 1986 to the interested persons calling upon them to declare the nature/kind of interest they have in the lands regarding which declaration under S.6 was made and for claiming compensation pertaining to the damages therefor. The notice issued by the competent authority is produced by the petitioners at Annexure-C to the petition. The petitioners have averred that acquisition of lands as per notification Exhs. A and B is for the purpose of Telephone Exchange and Staff Quarters for their employees which is the purpose of Union of India and as notification contemplated by S.4 of the Act is not issued by the Central Government, the same is liable to be set aside. It is pleaded that no notification under Art. 258(1) of the Constitution could have been issued for entrustment to the State Government of the duties and functions of the Central Government under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 in view of the fact that Parliament by legislation requires those functions to be carried out by the Central Government and, therefore, notification produced at Exh. A and declaration produced at Exh. B are invalid. What is claimed in the petition is that without authority of law as contemplated by Art. 300A of the Constitution, properties of the petitioners are sought to be deprived and, therefore, the reliefs claimed in the petitions should be granted. It is asserted that though approximate area of the land required was specified in the notification issued under S.4 of the Act, while making declaration under S.6 of the Act, the Government of Gujarat had included additional area of the land which was not covered by the notification issued under S.4 of the Act and without issuance of fresh notification under S.4 of the Act, parts of the land not covered by notification under S.4(1) of the Act could have been acquired by making declaration under S.6 of the Act. It is claimed in the petition that notification issued under S.4 of the Act is too vague and, therefore, entire acquisition proceedings are bad in law. It is also averred in the petition that the then Collector had personal bias against the petitioners, as order passed by him under S.65 of the Bombay Land Revenue Code was set aside by the Government in revision at the instance of the petitioners and as powers to acquire lands have been exercised mala fide, the petitions should be accepted. It is pleaded that Survey No. 600 situated in the City of Palanpur as well as other lands were available for construction of Telephone Exchange and Staff Quarters, but as alternative suitable lands are not acquired, the notification issued under S.4 as well as declaration made under S.6 should be set aside. It is claimed in the petition that on earlier two occasions Government had turned down proposal to acquire part of Survey No. 1125 situated in Palanpur City for this very purpose and as Survey No. 600 which is similarly situated is not acquired the Government of Gujarat has adopted policy of pick and choose and therefore, the impugned notification should be struck down. It is also highlighted in the petition that the purpose for which acquisition is made, no longer survives and, therefore, the impugned notifications should be quashed. Under the circumstances, the petitioners have filed present petitions and claimed reliefs to which reference is made earlier.

(3.) Mr. M. F. Parmar, Deputy Collector, Palanpur has filed affidavit-in-reply controverting the averments made in the petition. The petitioner No. 2 of Special Civil Application No. 5617 of 1986 has filed affidavit-in-rejoinder reiterating what is stated in the petition and has also got filed affidavit of one Babubhai M. Prajapati in support of averments made in the affidavit-in-rejoinder. Mr. M. S. Patel, Deputy Collector, Palanpur has filed further affidavit-in-reply on September 10, 1996. Similarly, Mr. A. K. Patel, S. D. E. (Admn.) has filed affidavit-in-reply on behalf of respondent No. 4 mentioning that the purpose for which lands are acquired, subsists even today and the lands are needed for Telephone Exchange as well as Staff Quarters.