UMANATH RAI Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By there seven writ applications, the proceedings for acquisition of more than thousand acres of land under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') at the cost of the Bihar State Housing Board constituted under the Bihar State Housing Board Second Ordinance (Bihar Ordinance No. 68 of 1980) for construction of houses have been challenged.

(2.) A notification under Section 4 of the Act was published in Aug. 1974 with respect to 1034.94 acres of agricultural land in the close proximity of Patna town and in Feb. 1919, a declaration under Section 6 was made, as contained in Annexure 1 to the writ petitions. The petitioners have prayed for quashing of Annexure '1' on the ground of delay in completing steps for taking over of the lands. On the 30th Mar. 1981, a public notice was issued as contained in Annexure 4 stating that no document of transfer of the lands under acquisition would be registered. The petitioners pray for quashing Annexures 1 and 4.

(3.) Mr. Thakur Prasad appearing for the petitioners, has contended that In view of the gross delay on the part of the respondents, it should be inferred that the impugned notification was not issued bona fide for public purpose and its object was to peg down the price of the lands so that in future if an occasion arose, the same could be acquired on payment of lower compensation. Reliance was placed on the decisions in State of Madhya Pradesh v. Vishnu Prasad, (AIR 1966 SC 1593), Amba Lal Purshottam v. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AIR 1968 SC 1223), Gujarat State Transport Corporation v. Valji Mulji Soneji (AIR 1980 SC 64), State of Punjab v. Gurdial Singh (AIR 1980 SC 319), P. Appalamurthy v. State of Andhra Pradesh (AIR 1981 Andji Pra 278) and Radhey Sham Gupta v. State of Haryana (AIR 1982 Punj & Har 519) (FB).