MANOHAR LAL Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution for the issuance of an appropriate writ, direction or order to the Land Acquisition Collector (Respondent 2) to make a reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act) to the District Court. The facts are as follows : The three writ petitioners owned land in the revenue estate of Salwara (particularised in Para 1 of writ petition). A notification under Section 4 of the Act saying that this land was likely to be acquired was issued on June 28, 1961 and published in the Government Gazette. Notification under Section 6 of the Act was issued on November 6, 1962. Possession of the acquired land was taken by the Collector on November 17, 1962. The Collector made his award on March 19, 1964. One of the petitioners, namely, Manohar Lal, was present at the time of the announcement of the award. The petitioners submitted on April 30, 1964 application under Section 18 of the Act in the office of the Land Acquisition Collector saying that they did not accept the award and the matter be referred to the District Court for adjudication. Four other right-holders affected by the same Award also submitted applications under Section 18 of the Act on the same date. All these five applications submitted by different landowners were serially numbered as 2139 to 2143 by the office and a joint receipt in respect thereof was issued to the petitioners. The Collector failed to make the reference on the application submitted by the petitioners but forwarded two applications of the other landowners under Section 18 to the Civil Court for adjudication. It is alleged in the petition "that they had requested the Collector to forward their applications also, but he delayed the matter on the vague pretext that consolidation operations in the village had not been finalised and he would decide this matter after the petitions under Section 42 of the Consolidation Act arising out of those consolidation proceedings, had been decided."

(2.) In the joint written statement, the Land Acquisition Collector has averred that when on March 19, 1964, the Award was made, the village was under consolidation operations and that in the apportionment statement the ownership of the acquired land was shown as Mushtarka Malkan Hassab Rassad Khewat. The petitioners filed Civil Writ No. 561 of 1961 under Article 226 of the Constitution in the High Court, which per its order, dated May 4, 1962, stayed dispossession of the petitioners till the determination of appeals under Sections 21(2), 21(3) and 21(4) of the Consolidation Act. The petitioners also filed writ petition 122 of 1966 under Article 32 of the Constitution in the Supreme Court for impugning those consolidation proceedings, which by its order dated January 31, 1967, dismissed that petition and vacated the Rule Nisi granted to the petitioner on May 5, 1966. The petitioner's appeal under Section 21(3) of the Consolidation Act was decided by the Settlement Officer, Consolidation of Holdings, Amritsar, on September 18, 1970. Another appeal of the petitioner arising out of the consolidation proceedings, was decided on September 26, 1969. The answering respondent had taken over as Land Acquisition Collector, Jullundur, on November 4, 1966. Some of the landowners, including the petitioners, verbally enquired from the answering respondent about the middle of 1968 about the fate of their applications under Section 18. Thereupon, all the 13 applications were traced out from the old record, and out of them, 4 applications were sent to the District Judge, Hoshiarpur for adjudication and the remaining, including that of the petitioners, were rejected as time-barred. The Land Acquisition Collector has added that he had convened that decision (which was admittedly made at the back of the petitioners) on October 7, 1968 vide his office letter No. R.D./162/3851 to the petitioners.

(3.) The departmental records have also been produced before me. There is an order, dated 20-9-1964, which purports to dismiss the petitioner's application under Section 18 as time-barred. It is recited in this order that the application of the present petitioners was received in the Collector's office on April 30, 1964 while the Award was made on March 19, 1964 in the presence of Manohar Lal, petitioner.