POORAN CHANDRA ANAND Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) G. P. Mathur, J. This petition has been filed praying that a writ of mandamus be issued directing the respondents to ex ecute a sale deed in favour of the petitioner in respect of the house in which he is a tenant without charging premium and lease rent according to the current market value of the land but on no profit no loss principle according to the cost of the acquisition of land.

(2.) THE case set up in the writ petition is that the petitioner came to India after partition. A Refugee Colony consisting of 120 residential quarters was constructed by Nagar Mahapalika, Agra (respondent No. 2) from a grant of rupees seven lakhs given by the Central Government to the U. P. Government upon the land which was acquired by the U. P. Government under U. P. Land Acquisition (Rehabilitation of Refugees) Act, 1948. THE Colony was con structed in 1949 and the quarters were allotted to the refugees on a rent Rs. 20/-per month with a further condition that if the rent is paid by 7th of the month, a rebate of 10% would be granted. THE quarter has been constructed on 99 Sq. yards of land and consists of two rooms, two verandahs, kitchen, store, latrine and bath-room. At the time of laying founda tion stone as well as inauguration of the Colony, it was stated by the Chief Minister that the quarters were intended to be sold to the refugees but as they were not in a position to pay the price thereof, they were being inducted as tenants and ultimately they will be sold to them on the basis of no profit no loss principle after adjustment of the rent already paid. According to the petitioner the price of each quarter came to Rs. 3. 941/- at the time of its construc tion. THE Nagar Mahapalika sent a letter dated 2-9-1985 to the President of the Society of the occupants of the quarters that premium for the plot was Rs. 33, 333-33 and the annual lease rent was Rs. 833. 33. According to the petitioner the demand made by Nagar Mahapalika for executing sale deed in exorbitant and is not in accordance with the assurance given at the time when the petitioner was inducted as tenant that the quarter would be sold on no profit no loss basis. THE petitioner con tends that the respondents are estopped on the principle of promissory estoppel to demand any higher price and they are bound to execute a sale deed of the quarter in his favour at the price of its construction namely Rs. 3, 941.

(3.) SHRI Sushil Harkauli, learned Counsel for the petitioner has placed strong reliance on a letter dated 5- 11-1959 (Annexure-1) sent by the Secretary to the Government, wherein it is mentioned that the Municipal Board is willing to transfer the quarters by outright sale to the existing allottees on payment of its total costs in cash less the amount of rent realised so far. The letter was sent to SHRI J. A. Agwani, Secretary of Malviya Kunj Prem Sabha (Society of tenants of the quarters) and he was advised to contact the Administrator of the Municipal Board, Agra. Even as suming this document to be correct, it is not a promise on the part of Nagar Mahapalika who is the owner of the quarter and, therefore, it cannot create any estoppel against it. That apart, it does not mention that the price on which the quarter would be sold would be same on which it was constructed in 1948. Learned Counsel has also submitted that resolu tion No. 587 was passed by respondent No. 2 on 7-3-1951 wherein it was decided to transfer the ownership of the quarters to the tenants, against hire purchase agree ment in easy instalments, less the rent paid, on no profit no loss basis. A copy of the resolution has not been placed on record and, therefore, it is not possible to ascertain the precise terms thereof. The quarters were constructed in 1949 and in March, 1951 tre then Municipal Board may have passed a resolution to transfer ownership to the refugees who were the tenants on no profit no loss basis but the said resolution cannot form the basis of claim after such a long period as it will be highly unjust to compel respondent No. 2 to execute sale deed now for the same price. It is common knowledge that there has been a meteric rise in the price of urban properties and the price structure of 1949-51 has no relevance at all at the present moment.