HAKIM FAZAL MOHAMMAD Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal is directed against the judgment and decree dated May 21, 1957, passed by the Subordinate Judge at Asansol in Title Suit No. 7 of 1955. The appeal has been preferred by Plaintiffs Nos. 1 to 17 and 19 to 29; Plaintiff No. 18 has been impleaded as a Respondent. The suit out of which the present appeal arises is one for declaration that the proceedings in Land Acquisition case No. 23 of 1949 -50 of the Special Land Acquisition Officer, Burdwan, are illegal and null and void and for other reliefs.

(2.) The State of West Bengal and the Special Land Acquisition Collector, Burdwan, were the principal Defendants and the rest of the Defendants including the Indian Iron and Steel Company Ltd. and the State of Bihar, 61 in number, were the pro forma Defendants. In other words, the suit was instituted against as many as 63 Defendants by as many as 29 Plaintiffs. Certain lands described in the schedule to the plaint have been acquired for a company, namely, the Indian Iron and Steel Company Limited, Defendant No. 3, for the improvement of the Burnpur market. The suit was instituted with the primary object of obtaining a decree for the cancellation of the entire land acquisition proceedings by which the said lands have been acquired.

(3.) Column 2 in the schedule to the plaint mentions the lands in suit claimed by the respective Plaintiffs and col. 3 contains the names of the immediate landlords under whom the Plaintiffs claimed tenancy right prior to acquisition. The Plaintiffs instituted the instant suit on the footing that their tenancy rights in the plots mentioned in col. 2 of the schedule had not been affected by the acquisition which, according to them, was void and inoperative in law.