BENI PRASAD TANDAN Vs. JABALPUR IMPROVEMENT TRUST

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS order shall dispose of Miscellaneous Petition No. 357 of 1968 also. Both these petitions are directed against- ( i) Development Scheme No. 5 framed by the Jabalpur Improvement trust (respondent 1) and sanctioned and announced by the State government (respondent S) under the provisions of the M. P. Town improvement Trusts Act, 1960 (hereinafter called the Act); (ii) sanction accorded to that Scheme by the State Government and announced by a notification dated January 18, 1965, issued under section 52 (1) of the Act and further sanction given by an order dated september 14, 1965, passed under Section 70 of the Act to acquisition of the land needed for the Scheme; and (iii) all orders passed and notices issued thereafter in regard to the scheme, acquisition of land therefor and delivery of possession of such land, the petitioners have further asked for a writ of mandamus to restrain the respondents from giving effect to the aforesaid Scheme.

(2.) THE broad facts that gave rise to these petitioners may be shortly stated. The respondent 1 framed Development Scheme No. 5 for shifting the existing wholesale grain market and Dal and Oil Mills and other like industries situated in crowded localities in the city of Jabalpur to a new site outside the thickly inhabited area, for establishing there other whole-sale and retail markets and also for development thereof residential plots suitable for workers in the aforesaid markets and industries. The Scheme provides for acquisition of 59. 59 acres of land out of khasra No. 204, area 88 acres, of Madhotal belonging to the petitioners, which, it is not now disputed, is situated within the limits of Municipal Corporation, jabalpur. Similarly, the Scheme provides for acquisition of 131. 29 acres of land out of 161. 08 acres belonging to the petitioners in the other petition as detailed in annexure A thereto, All this land too is situated within the limits of the Municipal corporation, Jabalpur. The notification relating to the Scheme was duly published in the M. P. Rajpatra and also in a local paper as required by Section 46 (2) of the act, The petitioners in the two cases raised several objections which were, however, rejected and then the State Government issued the aforesaid notification under Section 52 (1) of the Act and passed the impugned order under Section 70 of the Act. Thereafter, notices were issued under Section 71 (3) of the Act requiring the petitioners to deliver possession of the lands. They raised objections and also requested that their lands be released but the respondent No. 1 did not accede to their request. It was, thereafter, that the petitioners in the two cases filed these petitions.

(3.) THE Improvement Scheme No. 5 and the action taken therefor have been challenged in the two petitions inter alia on the following grounds: (i) The Municipal Corporation, Jabalpur, is the authority empowered to regulate markets, including the wholesale grain market, within the limits of the Corporation. Further such a market can be established and regulated under the provisions of the Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1960. That being so, the respondent 1 could not undertake, or be allowed to usurp, the functions of those authorities and the action taken by it is, therefore, illegal. (ii) Acquisition of land for such a purpose is not a public purpose within the meaning of Article 31 (2) of the Constitution. (iii) The Scheme, as framed, is not an improvement scheme specified in section 31 of the Act. It is not covered by Sections 37 and 39 of that act.