GOVERNMENT OF BANGLADESH Vs. MOST. NURJAHAN BEGUM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appeal, by leave, is against the judgment of the High Court Division dated May 19, 1998 in Writ Petition No.690 of 1987. The Writ Petition was filed challenging the notification dated October 27, 1986 published, in the Bangladesh Gazette on November 6, 1986 making correction of the Gazette Notification published in the Bangladesh Gazette on August 11, 19-83 acquiring 45 decimals of land out of 51 decimals of land of Plot No. 1009. Correction was made to the effect that in the Gazette Notification of August 11, 1983 land measuring .51 acre is to be read for the quantity of land measuring .45 acre. The writ-petitioner also impugned notice dated September 2, 1987 asking her to handover possession of the land in the light of the Gazette Notification of 6th November, 1986 and the notice dated October 24, 1997 addressed to the writ-petitioner asking her to remove the structures from the plot No.1009 i.e. the land which is claimed to have been acquired in pursuant to the Gazette Notification of 6th November, 1986.

(2.) The writ petition was filed stating, amongst others, that C.S. Plot No.1009 comprises 60 decimals of land and out of that 9 decimals of land were acquired some time in 1920 and the rest was owned and possessed by the recorded tenants namely, Sobhan Matbar and Nazar Bibi in equal share, that Nazar Bibi and her son sold .08 acre of land to the writ-petitioner on April 27, 1959 and since then she is owning and possessing the purchased land by erecting semi pucca structures, that she got her name mutated in the S.A. record and that also Municipal holding was opened in her name and thereupon paying taxes to the authorities, that by initiating Land Acquisition Case No.41 of 1964-65 land measuring .45 acre out of .51 acre was requisitioned on 25.5.1967, that the said .45 acre of land was requisitioned from the northern side of Plot No.1009, that notice under section 3 of the Emergency Requisition of Property Act, 1948 was issued for .45 acre of land from Plot No.1009, that in due course the requisitioning authority took possession of the .45 acre of land from the northern side of plot No.1009 and thereby land purchased by the writ-petitioner remained in her possession, that the land requisitioned also covered 2 decimals of land owned by the writ-petitioner and thus the writ-petitioner's right, title and interest in respect of .06 acre of land remained outside the requisitioned land i.e. .45 acre, that although 2 decimals of land of the writ-petitioner was requisitioned and finally acquired but compensation was not paid and thereupon writ-petitioner filed Title Suit No. 166 of 1972 for declaration of her title in respect of the compensation money, that the suit was decreed but on appeal .was reversed and thereupon the petitioner filed revision before the High Court Division and the same is still pending, that while the writ-petitioner was in possession the writ-Respondent No.1 by the notification dated October 27, 1986 which was published in the Bangladesh Gazette on November 6, 1986 made correction by inserting .51 acre of land in the Gazette Notification dated August 11, 1983 although by the said Gazette Notification .45 acre of land was acquired from C.S. Plot No. 1009 and thereupon served notice on the writ petitioner on two occasions threatening her to dispossess from the land owned and possessed by her and that thereafter on 24.10.1997 directed the writ-petitioner to remove within 10 days the structures in the land owned and possessed by her from the date of receipt of the notice otherwise she will be evicted. In the background of the facts as stated hereinabove the writ-petitioner filed the aforementioned writ-petition.

(3.) The Rule obtained in the writ petition was opposed by the writ-Respondent No. 1 i.e. Government of Bangladesh, represented by the Secretary, Ministry of Land Administration and Land Reforms stating, inter alia, that L.A. Case No. 41 of 1964-65 was initiated for acquisition of .51 acre of C.S. Plot No. 1009 but through inadvertent mistake while the Gazette Notification for acquisition was made quantity of land acquired was printed .45 acre of land instead of .51 acre of land and that the said mistake has been corrected by the notification dated August 27, 1986 published in the Bangladesh Gazette on November 6, 1986 and thereby necessary correction was made in the Gazette Notification dated August 11, 1983 by inserting .51 acre in place of .45 acre of land. It was the case of the writ-Respondent since there was a bonafide mistake as to the quantity of land in the Gazette Notification of August 11,1983 the said mistake was corrected by the subsequent Gazette Notification dated November 6, 1986 and by the subsequent Gazette Notification it has been inserted that in the Gazette Notification of August 11, 1983 as regard total quantity of land acquired of plot No. 1009 .51 acre is to be written in place of .45 acre of land and as such the writ-petition so filed is a misconceived one and that the contention of the writ-petitioner that the correction so made is illegal and malafide is not correct and the further contention was that writ petitioner's land in fact was acquired as per provision of the law which has ceased to exist because of the enactment of Acquisition and Requisition of Immovable Property Ordinance, 1982 (Ordinance No. II of 1982).