RANJIT KAUR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE two notifications published by the State Government on Dec. 16, 1976 and Dec. 13, 1979 under Sections 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, the Act) respectively are impugned in these petitions Nos. 3705 and 3745 of 1982 inter alia on the ground that the action of the respondent-authorities in acquiring the land of the petitioners for the setting up of a residential urban estate at Mansa, a sub-divisional town, is arbitrary and colourable exercise of power under the Act. To support this claim of theirs, the petitioners point out that but for the publication of the abovesaid notifications, respondent-authorities have not take any meaningful step towards the completion of the acquisition proceedings and the sole purpose of the Government in issuing these notifications was to peg down the prices of the land in question and to acquire the same at a later date suiting their convenience. It is the admitted position that subsequent to the issuance of the above-noted notifications the first and the only step taken by the respondent-authorities, in August, 10981 was the issuance of notices to the petitioners under S. 9 of the Act for filing their claims to the compensation to be awarded for the land in question. It is again the admitted position that neither the claims filed by the petitioners have been determined nor has any award in terms of Section 11 of the Act been made so far.

(2.) THE sole explanation for this non-action on the part of the respondent-authorities is "that the acquisition proceedings could not be completed as the Collector rates of the land have not been supplied by the District Collector, Bhatinda despite repeated requests. " This explanation not only is no explanation in the light of the provisions of paras 10 and 12 of the Financial Commissioner's Standing Order No. 28 which S. O. undisputably is in the form of executive instructions and is binding on the departmental authorities to justify the non-completion of the acquisition proceedings within a reasonable the lack of bona fides in exercise of the power of compulsory acquisition under the Act. It is beyond comprehension that the acquiring authorities, if serious at all are not in a position to get the information from the Collector of the district for years. These paras of the Standing Order not only lay down the time limit within which the Collector of the district is supported to supply the relevant data for preparing the necessary estimate of the value of the land against to be acquired but also indicate (paragraph 16) that all this has normally to precede the issuance of the notification under Section 4 of the Act. The relevant parts of these paras read as under :

(3.) FOR the reasons recorded above, we allow these petitions and quash the impugned notifications so far as these relate to the land of the petitioners. They are also held entitled to the costs of this litigation which are determined at Rs. 300/- in each case. S. S. Sandhawalia, J.