UNION OF INDIA Vs. DISTRICT JUDGE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Union of India represented by the General Manager, N. F. Railway, Maligaon, Guwahati and the Estate Officer, N. F. Railway, Tinsukia, in exercise of power under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India, have assailed the impugned judgment dated 28.5.2003 passed in Miscellaneous Appeal No. 2 of 2001 by the learned District Judge, Dibrugarh, allowing the appeal preferred by the respondent No. 2 under Section 9 of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, setting aside the order of the Estate Officer, Tinsukia by which the respondent No. 2 was directed to vacate the said premises as described in the schedule in Eviction Case No. EO/TSK/4523/2000.

(2.) The common question, as pleaded by the parties in the writ petition is, as to whether a person who was inducted as a licensee for temporary occupation of land in premises, by an agreement between the parties on 10.6.70, with effect from 1.4.70 to 31.3.71 for a period of one year, which is Public Premises for the purposes of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971 (hereinafter referred to as the Public Premises Act), whose license had expired or had been cancelled, can be evicted from the said premises as being a person in unauthorized occupation of the premises, under the provisions of the Public Premises Act and whether such a person can invoke the protection of the judgment and decree dated 30.4.94 passed in Title Appeal No. 10 of 1992 by the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Dibrugarh, overriding the provisions of the Public Premises Act.

(3.) Before dealing with the contentions raised by the parties in regard to the aims and object of the Public Premises Act, this court first deal with the judgment and decree passed by the learned Appellate Court in Title Appeal No. 10 of 1992 and the subsequent events of the case. The relevant portion of the judgment is quoted hereunder in order to resolve the controversies between the parties: