JUGAL KISHORE BHAGAR Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This application has been Hi ed by the petitioner under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, praying that an order, dated the 22nd March, 1963, incorporated in Annexure 'F' of the application, passed by opposite party No. 2, the Revenue Minister, Government of Bihar, Patna, may be quashed by a writ in the nature of a writ of certiorari or by am other appropriate writ. The substance of the facts stated in the application is as follows. It is stated that the petitioner is the owner of a house in Mohhalla Bakerganj, in the town of Laherisarai, in the district of Darbhanga, bearing holding No. 92, plot No. 28816, measuring about 1 katha, 13 dhurs and 87 dhurkis. A notification had been published in the Bihar Gazette for acquisition of some lands, in cluding the petitioner's land, for the purpose of extending Sinba Homeo Medical College and Hos pital, Laherisarai. In the due course the petitioner filed an objection under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act before the Collector of Darbhanga. By order dated the 5th October, 1961, the Collec tor of Darbhanga rejected the petitioner's objection and thereupon, the petitioner filed an application under Section 54(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, as amended by Bihar Act 11 of 1961, before the appropriate Government. It is stated that the then Revenue Minister, Government of Bihar, passed his order on the petitioner's application, which is incorporated in Annexure 'D' of the application dated the 2nd March, 1962. It is stated, further, that in pursuance of the directions given by the then Revenue Minister, the Collector dropped the land acquisition proceeding, as is evidenced by Annexure E' - It is then stated that in April, 1962, opposite party No. 5, the Secretary of the Sinha Horaeo Medical College and Hospital, revived the land acquisition proceeding by filing a petition before the Revenue Minister, Government of Bihar. It is then stated that by order dated the 22nd March, 1963. the then Revenue Minister reopened the matter and ordered that the land and house of the petitioner will be acquired under the Land Acquisition Act. This is the impugned order, incorporated in Annexure 'F'. It Is mentioned in the application that the order dated the 22nd March, 1963 was illegal and without jurisdiction, as the order passed earlier and incorporated in Annexure 'D', dated the 2nd March, 1962, was final. It is further stated that the Revenue Minister, Government of Bihar, had no power to review an earlier decision, and, therefore, the order dated the 22nd March, 1963, should be quashed.

(2.) A counter-affidavit has been filed on behalf of opposite parties Nos. 1 to 4 and the substance of it is that the land, which was the subject-matter of land acquisition proceeding, was partly vacant and partly covered with dilapidated houses, and, therefore, there was nothing wrong in the order dated the 22nd March, 1963, having been passed for acquisition. The existence of any house, as alleged by the petitioner, has been denied. A reply to the counter-affidavit has also been filed by the petitioner, stating that in fact, a house stands on the land proposed to be acquired and its holding numbers are 92 and 92A in the record of the Darbhanga Municipality. Some other facts have also been in this reply.

(3.) The main argument advanced by Sri Prem Lall, appearing for the petitioner, is based on Section 5A incorporated in the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 by Land Acquisition (Bihar Amendment) Act, 1960, which is Bihar Act No. 11 of 1961. The original section of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (Act No. 1 of 1894), reads thus :