JHANDU LAL BUDH RAM Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal under Clause 10 of the Letters Patent against a decision of bishan Narain J. in Civil Writ No. 124 of 1957 whereby he dismissed the petition under Article 226 of the Constitution calling in question proceedings under the land Acquisition Act.

(2.) THE facts briefly are that the Thapar Industrial Workers Co-operative Housing society, Limited, Jamna Nagar, required land for building houses for its industrial workers. An attempt was made at first to requisition the land but this was abandoned after the matter was taken to Court and a decree for injunction was passed in favour of the owners of the land. On 27-5-1955 notifications under sections 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act were issued in respect of 86 bighas and 8 biswas of land near Jagadhri. The land acquisition proceedings followed and the Patwari delivered possession to the respondent-Society on 21-8-1955. The matter was then brought to this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution and it was alleged in the petition that the purpose for which the land had been acquired was not a public purpose and that the notification under Section 6 was invalid because the provisions of Part VII of the Land Acquisition Act had not been complied with and it was necessary to comply with these provisions in all cases where land is required for a company.

(3.) THESE contentions were repelled by the learned Single Judge who found that the purpose for which the land was acquired was a public purpose and that it was not necessary to comply with the provisions of Part VII when land was required for a public purpose. The same points have been agitated before us in appeal. The first point, therefore, to consider is whether in this case land was acquired for a public purpose. The purpose is to build houses for the industrial workers of a cooperative society. The question of what is "public purpose" has been considered by the Supreme Court in a number of cases and also by the various High Courts. In tham-biran Padayachi v. State of Madras, AIR 1952 Mad 756, the Madras High court considered the case of a co-operative house construction society for which land was acquired. Judgment was pronounced by the learned Judges of the Madras high Court upon a consideration of a large number of cases dealing with the acquisition of land for public purposes. The position was summed up as follows :