SHAMMOMAL KHAJOOMAL Vs. G.D. KSHETARPAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition arises out of the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954 (hereinafter referred to as the Act of 1954). The petitioner is a displaced person from West Pakistan. The petitioner abandoned his properties in West Pakistan which consisted of (1) agricultural lands in rural area, (2) buildings etc. in rural area and (3) property in urban area. Under the Displaced Persons Claims Act, 1950, the petitioner made claims in respect of these three kinds of properties which he had abandoned in West Pakistan. These applications were heard and the claims were verified by the proper authorities. In respect, of rural properties other than agricultural lands, the claims were numbered as S/KR -5/56, S/KR -15/327/D and S/KB -1/72D and the verified claims respectively were Rs. 21,997 -8 -0, Rs. 6,200 and Rs. 2,036 total being Rs. 30,233 -8 -0. In respect of agricultural lands his claim bore the number S/KR -8/72D and the verified claim was 219.10 standard acres which was revised to 222 standard acres. In respect of urban property his claim was No. S/KR -1/72D (ii) and the verified claim was Rs. 3,500. It is accepted that in respect of the agricultural lands where the verified claim was 222 standard acres the petitioner would be entitled to the allotment of 83 acres, 6i gunthas.

(2.) LATER , the Act of 1954 came to be passed. Under this Act, the claimants were required to make applications for payment of compensation 'to them. Accordingly, the petitioner made an application under Section 4 of the said Act for payment of compensation due to him. It also appears that later on a house bearing No. DBZ -S -180 at Gandhidham, Kandla, was allotted to the petitioner by an order dated March 22, 1955. The said house was valued at Rs. 10,800, Later on, the petitioner purchased a house at an auction of evacuee property bearing No. 19/4 at Bhoraji on July 16, 1956, for a sum of Rs. 19,500 -0 -0. Under Section 5 of the said Act the Settlement Officer has to determine, after making an inquiry according to the prescribed rules, the amount of public dues recoverable from the petitioner and thereafter under Section 7 thereof determine the amount of compensation payable to the petitioner. The petitioner alleges that while deciding these points, no notice was issued to him. However, by a communication exh. B, dated March 1, 1956, the petitioner was informed that a sum of Rs. 10,800, the price of the first house, and a sum of Rs. 11,169, part payment in respect of the second house, were adjusted against his claim for agricultural lands and he was allotted the balance of 28 acres, 15 gunthas of lands.

(3.) IN this petition he contends that the respondents were bound to hand over physical possession of the properties allotted to him and that they have failed to do so. lie, therefore, prays that the respondents should be ordered to hand over physical possession of the property and if some of the survey numbers cannot be so handed over to him they should be directed to pay compensation in respect of those lands as provided by the rules. His second contention is that the proceedings for determination of compensation and the manner of its adjustment were taken without notice to the petitioner and contrary to the provisions of the rules. He says that according to the rules, public dues are first to be adjusted against the compensation amount payable to the petitioner which would mean compensation determined in respect of the urban claim and the rural claim in respect of properties other than agricultural lands. He says that the respondents are not entitled to adjust the public dues against the claim in respect of agricultural lands at all. In so far as this adjustment is made it is contrary to the rules and the same should be struck down and also that the amount recovered from him as the balance of the price of the two house properties should be ordered to be paid back to him.