R L AURORA Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal from an order of Mr. Justice Mehrotra dated 30-8-1957, dismissing two petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution. The relevant facts are these : On 31-5-1943, the appellant purchased a plot of agricultural land measuring approximately 9 acres in village Nauraiya Khera in Kanpur district for a sum of Rs. 7,000/-, and shortly thereafter he obtained the surrender of the tenancy rights of the tenant who was in occupation of the plot on payment of Rs. 1,705/-. He thus obtained actual physical possession over the entire plot. On 31-5-1943, the appellant also obtained a permanent lease of an adjacent plot of land measuring 15.5 acres. His purpose in acquiring the two plots had been, he says, for the erection of a factory. This object was however frustrated by the fact that on 26-7-1943, the military authorities requisitioned the second of the two plots measuring 15.5 acres and on 6-5-1944, an area of 1 59 acres out of the first of the two plots; the period of requisition in each case being for 10 years. The appellant was thus left with an area of about 7.41 acres which he says was ulitised by him for the raising of food crops for which purpose he expended a sum of over Rs. 60,000/- in the construction of a tubewell, water courses, quarters and in enclosing the whole area with a barbed wire fence. On 1-10-1955, the military authorities released the area of 1.59 acres, thereby restoring the possession of the appellant over the whole of the first of the two plots.

(2.) In 1956 the State Government proposed to acquire an area of land for the erection of a factory for the manufacture of textile machinery parts by the fourth respondent, the Lakshmiratan Engineering Works Ltd. On 30-6-1956, it published in the Gazette a notification dated 25-6-1956, under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which stated that it was proposed to acquire inter alia, an area of 11.664 acres in village Nauraiya Khera for the construction of the proposed factory, and as it was of opinion that the case was one of urgency the State Government further directed, under Section 17(4) of the Act that the provisions of Section 5-A would not apply to the acquisition. The area proposed to be acquired included the plot in the possession of the appellant and, it seems, a portion of the adjoining plot which had been requisitioned by the military authorities. On 7-7-1956, another notification dated 5-7-1956, was published in the Gazette where-under the Governor declared, under Section 6 of the Act, that he was satisfied that the land mentioned in the schedule thereto (which included the area of 11.664 acres in Nauraiya Khera) was needed for a Company. By this notification the Governor further directed the Collector of Kanpur to take possession of any waste or arable land forming part of the scheduled area on the expiration of the notice mentioned in Sub-section (1) of Section 9 of the Act. The appellant thereupon filed a petition in this Court (No. 1561 of 1956) wherein the principal relief sought was the quashing by a writ of certiorari of the notifications dated respectively the 25th June and the 5th July, 1956. Somewhat later, on 11-8-1956, a copy of the agreement between the State Government and the Lakshmiratan Engineering Works Ltd., which had been entered into on 5-8-1956, pursuant to Section 41 of the Act, was published in the Gazette.

(3.) On 6-12-1956, during the pendency of the writ petition No. 1561 of 1956, a fresh agreement under Section 41 of the Act was entered into between the Government and the Lakshmiratan Engineering Works Ltd., and thereafter a fresh notification, dated 7-12- 1956, was published in the Gazette on 8-12-195G under Section 6 of the Act. That notification was in exactly the same form as the earlier notification dated the preceding 7th July, save that the area of land sought to be acquired in Nauraiya Khera was stated to be 6.93 acres. It is common ground that this area is wholly within the first of the two plots acquired by the appellant. The appellant then filed in this Court, on 21-1-1957 petition No. 352 of 1957, in which he sought two reliefs : first, the issue of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents not to acquire the land and buildings belonging to the appellant in village Nauraiya Khera; and secondly, the issue of a writ of certiorari quashing the notifications dated the 25th June, the 5th July and 7-12-1956. This petition in substance superseded the earlier petition No. 1561 of 1956. The two petitions were rejected by Mr. Justice Mehrotra by the order which is the subject of the present appeal.