GAGANDAS HOTCHAND Vs. J.S. BAJAJ

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution raises a question of construction of the provisions of the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954, which hereafter will be called 'the 1934 Act' and the rules framed under it. The facts leading to the petition are few and are as follows :

(2.) THE two petitioners are father and son who are joint with five other sons of petitioner No. 1. When they came to India in the wake of the partition, they left agricultural land and some houses in West Pakistan. They made claims under the Displaced Persons Claims Act, 1950. The claims were assessed and verified at Rs. 20,000 for houses etc. and two and a half standard acres and five and a half gunthas of agricultural land. The claim for houses became reduced to Rs. 17,111, It may be stated that all the properties were situated in rural area.

(3.) ON May 13, 1957, the Additional Settlement Commissioner, Delhi, Bombay Camp, on the basis of Rule 65 under the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954, rejected their claim for rural houses on the ground that they had been allotted agricultural lands S. Nos. 75 and 77 at Bhir. In the meantime the petitioners were asking that the land be permanently allotted to them and had also challenged the above order before the Chief Settlement Commissioner. In the meantime the State Government had started negotiating for the purchase of these pieces of land for the purpose of the Hospital which it was running in the bungalow. The Settlement Commissioner made an order agreeing to do so, and sought the approval of the Chief Settlement Commissioner who approved of the same. The price fixed was Rs. 1,13,000. It appears that on September 21, 1959, the petitioners came to know of the same. Petitioner No. 1, therefore, made representations against the proposal and when he did not get a satisfactory reply he filed Special Civil Application No. 591 of 1960 challenging the orders dated May 13, 1957, made by the Additional Settlement Officer rejecting the claim regarding rural houses and dated May 14, 1960, by the Chief Settlement Commissioner confirming the same and their decision to sell the land to the State Government, This petition was later withdrawn on April 20, 1961. They however continued in possession of the land. Respondent No. 3 then ordered the Tehsildar to evict the petitioners.