MAJOR S ARJAN SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE erstwhile Pepsu State acquired certain lands measuring about 250 acres for the purposes of establishing an institute of Technology at Patiala. Almost all the owners whose lands have been acquired have filed separate writ petitions under article 226 of the Constitution in this Court challenging the validity of acquisition and also challenging the validity of proceedings taken thereafter culminating into awards under Section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act. These writ petitions have been filed through different counsel end on different grounds. As every ground raised applied equally to all cases, I have decided to treat all these grounds as having been raised by all the applicants. In the circumstances it will bo convenient to decide all these petitions (Civil Writs Nos. 476, 477, 478, 524, 560, 561, 562, 567, 601. 568, 569, 570, 571, 572, 573 615, 655, 863 and 1132 of 1957) by this judgment.

(2.) THE facts relevant for the decision of these petitions are not in dispute. The pepsu Gov--ernment entered into an agreement on 16-8-1955 with the trustees of the Mohini Thapar Charitable Trust (alleged to be a public trust), to establish an, institute of Engineering and Technology (herein-after called the institute) in Patiala with a view to encourage and promote technical education in the State. Under this agreement the parties agreed to create jointly a public charitable trust for the estab-lishment of the institute within six months. It was agreed that its board of trustees will consist of seven members,, one of whom will be Shri Karam Chand thapar, and six others would be selected in the first instance by the Chief Minister, pepsu, and Shri Karam Chand Thapar after mutual consideration and thereafter vacancies will be filled by the trustees themselves from amongst eminent public men. The Government agreed to provide about 250 acres of land free of cost to this institute, and further the Government and the Mohini Thapar Chi-ritable Trust agreed to subscribe Rs. 30,00,000/-each to the institution. This agreement was modified by another agreement of 9-4-1956 whereby the period fixed for establishing this trust was extended to 9-1-1957. On the same day, i. e. . 9-4-1956 another agreement was executed. In this agreement the trust was named as "patiala Education Trust". A board of trustees consisting of seven members was constituted. The land which was to be provided free of cost by the. Government and the amount of Rs. 60,00,000/- to be contributed equally by the Government and the Mohini Thapar Charitable Trust were agreed to constitute the trust property. It is not necessary to give further terms of this agreement for the present purposes.

(3.) ON 19-9-1955. i. e. , about a month after the first agreement with the Mohini thapar Charitable Trust the Pepsu Government issued a noti-fication under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, as then in force in that State, declaring that lands measuring 250 acres and specified in the schedule were likely to be required for public purposes. In this notification it was stated that on grounds of emergency section 17 would apply and therefore proceedings under Section 5a would not apply to this acquisition. On 29-10-1955 another notification under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act was issued acquiring the land mentioned in the previous notification. The notification describes the purpose of acquisition in these words : "the land is required to be taken by Government on the public expense for a public purpose, namely for the establishment of an Institute of Technology at Patiala. " it then proceeds to direct "the Collector (Land Acquisition Officer)" to take orders for the acquisition of the said land. At that time Sardar Dalip Singh was the collector under the Land Acquisition Act. In due course he took the necessary orders, and it appears that possession of a major portion of the acquired land was taken. It is stated that the institute is functioning with about 300 students. Sardar dalip Singh was placed under suspension but the date of the order of suspension is not traceable from these petitions. On 5-9-1956 the Government appointed Shri babu Ram, Tehsil-dar, as "officiating Land Acquisition Officer, Public Works department, vice Sardar Dalip Singh". Babu Ram then issued notices under sections 9 and 10 of the Act. He made inquiries and gave his award in all cases on 5-10-1956 under Section 11 of the Act. The claimants did not accept these awards and got the Collector to refer the matter to the District Judge. While the proceedings were going on before the District Judge, all these petitions were filed at different times in this Court during May and June 1957.