GURBUXSINGH DALALSINGH Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is a displaced person within the meaning of the term defined in the Displaced Persons (Compensation & Rehabilitation) Act, 1954 ("Act" for short). The petitioner and his family are the victims of partition. They had to flee the area now known as Pakistan and were faced with the problem of settling down. Many displaced persons were sent to this State for rehabilitation. There were number of transit camps near Kalyan which were used previously for prisoners of war. This area was located near Thane and was named as Ulhasnagar. The lands and barracks forming part in the said area were put into compensation pool and were to be disposed in the manner laid down in the rules and notifications and policy decisions taken by the Central Government. As the barracks were hardly sufficient to such large number of refugees, some of them encroached upon the adjoining lands to the barracks allotted to them. In order to solve the problems of the refugees, the Central Government constituted a high power committee in 1965 and then again in 1968. The high power committee held meetings with the leaders of the displaced persons at Bombay and Ulhasnagar. The minutes of the meetings were recorded. It was decided that the displaced persons who had encroached upon the road side plots for the shops would be given those plot and those who had encroached upon open plots, the encroached area would be transferred to such displaced persons on payment of price fixed by the Government. It was further decided that those displaced persons who had occupied the plots would be granted ownership rights at particular rates if they were not in possession of the other plot at other places and at higher rate if in possession of another plot elsewhere. It was also decided that all the encroachments made on the Government lands prior to 11th May, 1965 would be surveyed by the special cell and occupations would be regularised and the lands would be transferred to the displaced persons on the reserved price. Pursuant to the decision taken by the Central Government, a survey committee was appointed and that survey committee carried out survey of all unauthorised occupations made in Ulhasnagar, after the receipt of the survey report, the Central Government appointed a screening Committee to consider such occupations and pass resolutions of regularising the encroachments in Ulhasnagar township. The procedure adopted at that time was that the screening committee would consider each sheet and consider the occupations of the displaced persons and pass minutes whether they propose to regularise or not. Such minutes then would be put up before the Chairman who would approve the same. After the minutes were approved by the Chairman, it would come up for confirmation before the screening committee at the next meeting and in that meeting the minutes would be confirmed. After the said minutes were confirmed, the matter would be sent to the managing officer for issuing allotment orders. By following this process, a large number of occupations in Ulhasnagar were regularised by the screening committee and the displaced persons who were occupying the lands, were granted conveyance deeds.

(2.) In or about 1971, the Central Government decided to transfer the remaining work of completing the rehabilitation of the displaced persons to the state Government. In view of the transfer of the power to the State Government, a fear was expressed by some of the displaced persons that the commitments made by the Central Government will not be honoured by the State Government. Some of the displaced persons, therefore, moved this Court by filing Writ Petition No.1738 of 1971 where under the State Government agreed to abide by all the commitments made by the Central Government to the displaced persons. On 9th March, 1983, the State Government passed the following resolution :

(3.) As indicated earlier large number of refugees were accommodated in military barracks of Ulhasnagar. The influx was so great and the accommodation was so meagre that the refugees occupied whatever was available to them. The petitioner occupied a mess room which is described in the correspondence as near to barrack No.728, camp No.3. It seems that the petitioner also encroached upon an open area admeasuring approximately 240 sq. yards. Under the survey carried in 1967-68, the authorised occupations were granted 'U' numbers and 'E' numbers. As far as the petitioner's occupation of the open land is concerned, it was numbered as U-No.78, sheet No.40, camp No.3. On the basis of the policy decision the petitioner applied for transfer of the mess room as well as the open land described above. It appears that the petitioner's case was not finalised for a strange reason. It seems that the Union Government had valued the rooms in barracks and the land in and around the barracks. However, the petitioner was occupying a mess room which was not valued and therefore no orders were passed on the petitioner's application.