BHAGABAN ROY Vs. FIRST LAND ACQUISITION COLLECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India the petitioners are challenging an order of the respondents dated the 11th January, 1979 whereby the land mentioned in the order has been requisitioned under the provisions of Sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act. 1948, (hereinafter referred to as the 1948 Act).

(2.) The said Act came into force in 1948. It was a temporary Act. The life of the said Act was extended from time to time by way of amendment of the Act Ultimately it expired on the 31st Mar., 1977 without any further extension being made before such expiry. On the 30th of April, 1977, there was a Presidential Rule and thereafter on the 7th June, 1977, there was an Ordinance which was replaced by the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Re-enactment Act, J977, (hereinafter referred to as the 1977 Act). It is a very short Act and may be set out herein below. West Bengal Act XV of 1977 The West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Re-enacting Act, 1977. (Passed by the West Bengal Legislature) (Assent of the President was first published in the Calcutta Gazette, Extraordinary of the 22nd July, 1977) An Act to re-enact the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948. Whereas it is expedient to re-enact the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948, for the purposes and in the manner hereinafter appearing: It is hereby enacted- in the Twenty-eighth Year of the Republic of India, by the Legislature of West Bengal as follows :--

(3.) Mr. B. N. Sen appearing on behalf of the petitioners made the following submissions. His main submission was to the effect that though legislation by incorporation is possible, but the mode followed in this case is not an accepted mode. He has further submitted that it must be by way of incorporation of some existing law. It was submitted that in the present case the law in question having expired on the 31st March, 1977, it was not 'law'. For this purpose, it was submitted, the law' means an existing law -- a valid law. An enactment which has expired was not a valid law. For this purpose nothing can be incorporated which does not exist. It was admitted that there was no decision directly on this point but various observations made in various judgments and several passages from some text books were cited by Mr. Sen.