PHUMAN SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order will dispose of two petitions under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India (Civil Writs 595 and 596 of 1966) in which the legality of the proceedings taken for the acquisition of land situated within the revenue estate of village Burail, tehsil Kharar, in connection with the extension of the, Capital Project, Chandigarh, has been assailed. The questions for consideration ill both the petitions are identical and the facts are the same.

(2.) On 23rd March, 1948, the East Punjab Government issued a Notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 , (hereinafter called 'the Act'), declaring its intention to acquire land measuring 371 square miles within all the revenue estates then forming part of Kharar Tehsil in the district of Ambala for the purpose of setting up the Capital for the State of East Punjab. The Notification further said that the provisions of Section 5-A would not apply in regard to this acquisition. As a result of representation made to the authorities by the petitioners and others, who held land that had been notified for acquisition, a compromise was arrived at on the 20th December, 1950. The terms thereof were set down in a document signed among others by the Officer on Special Duty, Ambala. According to clause 7 of that agreement, the State Government agreed not to go beyond 17 villages that had already been declared as Capital site. The petitioners village Burail was, however, not among those 17 villages.

(3.) Consequent upon that compromise, land in those 17 villages mentioned in the deed, copy of which formed Annexure 'B' to the petition, was acquired.