Full Judgment Text
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 1 of 7
PETITIONER:
LILA RAM ETC.
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. ETC.
DATE OF JUDGMENT19/08/1975
BENCH:
KHANNA, HANS RAJ
BENCH:
KHANNA, HANS RAJ
KRISHNAIYER, V.R.
GUPTA, A.C.
FAZALALI, SYED MURTAZA
CITATION:
1975 AIR 2112 1976 SCR (1) 341
1975 SCC (2) 547
CITATOR INFO :
R 1978 SC 515 (7)
D 1984 SC1767 (12)
ACT:
Land Acquisition Act, Section 4-Execution of Interim
General Plan for the Greater Delhi, if a public purpose for
the purposes of the section.
HEADNOTE:
on September 3, 1957 the Chief Commissioner of Delhi
issued a notification under section 4 of the Land
Acquisition Act in respect of land measuring about 3,000
acres mentioned in the schedule attached to the
notification. lt was also stated that the land is likely to
be required to be taken at the public expense for a public
purpose, namely, for the execution of the Interim General
Plan for the Greater Delhi. The notification was published
in the Delhi Gazette on September 12 1957. Large tracts of
land belonging to the appellant and situated in villages
Garhi Jaharia Maria and Zamurdupur were covered by the above
notification. Declaration dated February 15, 1961 under
section 6 of the Act in respect of the land of the appellant
and some other lands covered by the above notification was
published on February 23, 1961. On or about February 24,
1961 the appellant filed petition under article 226 of the
Constitution challenging the validity of the notification
under section 4 of the Act on various grounds. It was argued
on behalf of the appellant in the High Court that the
acquisition of the land was not for a public purpose. that
the so-called public purpose was merely a colourable device
for freezing huge areas of land and that there could not be
successive declarations under section 6 of the Act in
respect of the lands covered by one notification under
section 4 of the Act. The High Court rejected the
contentions and dismissed the writ petition.
Dismissing the appeal.
^
HELD : ( I ) The public purpose mentioned in the
notification namely, for the execution of the Interim
General Plan for the Greater Delhi, is specific in the
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 2 of 7
circumstances and does not suffer from any vagueness. The
land covered by the notification is not a small plot, but a
huge area covering thousands of acres. In such cases it is
difficult to insist upon greater precision for specifying
the public purpose because it is quite possible that various
plots covered by the notification may have to be utilised
for different purposes set out in the Interim General Plan.
No objection was also taken by the appellant before the
authorities that the public purpose mentioned in the
notification was not specific enough and as such he was not
able to file effective objections against the proposed
acquisition. [343F-H, 344A]
Munshi Singh & Ors. v Union of India [1973] 1 S.C.R.
973: Aflatoon & Ors. v. Lt. Governor of Delhi ors. A.I.R.
119741 S.C. 2077 and Ratni Devi v. Chief Commissioner W.P.
Nos. 332 and 333 of 1971 decided on April 13, 1975, referred
to.
(ii) The lnterim General Plan was prepared and
published by the Government after approval by the Cabinet as
a policy decision for development of Delhi as an interim
measure till a Master Plan could be made ready. In Aflatoon
case this Court laid down that the planned development of
Delhi was a public purpose for the purpose of section 4 of
the Act. As the object of the Interim General Plan was to
prevent haphazard and unplanned development of Delhi and
thereby ensure planned development of Delhi. the execution
of the Interim General Plan must be held to be a public
purpose for the purpose of section 4 of the Act. [344G H,
345A]
(iii) It is, true the effect of the notification under
section 4 of the Act was to freeze the land, but that fact
would not in any way affect the validity of the
notification. The object of a notification under section 4
is to give public notice that it is proposed to acquire the
land mentioned in the notification and
342
that any one who deals in that land subsequent to the
notification would do so at his own risk. According to
section 23 of the Act, in determining the amount of
compensation to be awarded for land acquired under the Act,
the Court shall take into consideration, besides other
factors the market-value of the land at the date of the
publication of the notification under section 4. It is
further provided in section 24 of the Act that the Court
shall not take into consideration any outlay or improvement
on, or disposal of the land acquired, commenced, made or
affected without the sanction of the Collector after the
date of the publication of the notification under section 4,
It is, therefore, obvious that the consequences of the
"freezing of the land" is inherent in the nature of things
once the notification under section 4 is issued. [345B-D]
JUDGMENT:
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION; Civil Appeal No. 35 and
989 of 1968.
From the Judgment and order dated the 8th May, 1964 of
the Punjab High Court (Circuit Bench) at Delhi in Civil Writ
Nos. 76-D of 1961 and 604-D of 1962 respectively.
B. R. L. Iyengar, K. P. Gupta, for the Appellants in
C.A. No. 35 of 1968.
L. N. Sinha, Solicitor General of India, S. N. Prasad
and S. P. Nayar, for the respondents in C.A. No 35 of 1968.
Hardayal Hardy, P. C. Bhartari and J. B. Dadachanji and
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 3 of 7
Co., for the appellants in C.A. No. 989 of 1968.
L N. Sinha, Solicitor General of India, S. N. Prasad
and S. P. Nayar, the Respondents in C.A. No. 989 of 1968.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
KHANNA, J.-This judgment would dispose of civil appeals
No. 35 and 989 of 1968 which have been filed on certificate
against the common judgment of the Punjab High Court whereby
petitions under article 226 of the Constitution file by the
appellants and others challenging the validity of the land
acquisition proceedings were dismissed.
We may now set out the facts giving rise to appeal No.
35. On September 3, 1957 the Chief Commissioner of Delhi
issued a notification under section 4 of the Land
Acquisition Act (hereinafter refer- red to as the Act) in
respect of the land measuring about 3,000 acres mentioned in
the schedule attached to the notification. The material part
of the notification reads as under:
"Whereas it appears to the Chief Commissioner of
Delhi that land is likely to be required to be taken at
the public expense for a public purpose namely for the
execution of the Interim General Plan for the Greater
Delhi it is hereby notified that the land described in
the Schedule below is likely to be required for the
above purpose."
343
The notification was published in the Delhi Gazette on
September 12,. 1957. Large tracts of land belonging to the
appellant and situated in villages Grahi Jaharia Maria and
Zamurdupur were covered by the above notification.
Declaration dated February 15, 1961 under section 6 of the
Act in respect of the land of the appellant and some other
lands covered by the above notification was published on
February 23, 1961. on or about February 24, 1961 the
appellant filed petition under article 226 of the
Constitution challenging the validity of the notification
under section 4 of the Act on various grounds, to which
reference would be made hereafter. The Union of India the
Delhi Development Authority and the Chief Commissioner were
impleaded as respondents in the petition and affidavit was
filed on their behalf by Shri K. L. Rathee, Housing
Commissioner. Delhi Administration in opposition to the
petition.
It was argued on behalf of the appellant in the High
Court that the acquisition of the land was not for a public
purpose, that the so called public purpose was merely a
colourable device for freezing huge areas of land and that
there could not be successive declaration under section of
the Act in respect of the lands covered by one notification
under section 4 of the Act. A Division Bench of the High
Court consisting of Falshaw, C.J. and Mehar Singh J. (as he
then was) repelled the various contentions advanced on
behalf of the appellants and in the result dismissed the
writ petitions.
Mr. Iyengar on behalf of the appellant has at the
outset contend ed before us that the so-called public
purpose, namely, "for the execution of the Interim General
Plan for the Greater Delhi" is vague and as such the
notification is liable to be quashed. Reliance in this
context has been placed by the learned counsel upon the case
of Munshi Singh and ors. v. Union of India(1). In this
collection we find that the judgment of the High Court shows
that the appellant did not challenge the notification in
question or the acquisition proceedings on the ground that
the public purpose mentioned in the notification was vague.
As such, the appellant in our opinion, cannot be allowed to
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 4 of 7
agitate this question for the first time in appeal. Apart
from that, we are of the view that the public purpose
mentioned in the notification. namely, for the execution of
the Interm General Plan for the Greater Delhi, is specific
in the circumstances and does not suffer from any vagueness.
It is significant that the land covered by the notification
is not a small plot but a huge area covering thousands of
acres. In such cases it is difficult to insist upon greater
precision for specifying the public purpose because it is
quite possible that various plots covered by the
notification may have to be utilised for different purposes
set out in the Interim General Plan. No objection. was also
taken by the appellant before the authorities concerned that
the public purpose mentioned in the notification was not
specification enough and as such he was not able to file
effective objections against the proposed acquisition. In
the case of Munshi Singh and Ors. (supra) the complaint of
the appellant was that he was unable to object effectively
under section 5A of the Act to the proposed acquisition. The
(1) [1973] 1 S.C.R. 973.
344
appellant in that case in that context referred to the fact
that a scheme of planned development was not made available
to him in spite of his application. As against that, as
already mentioned, no objection was taken by the appellant
that because of alleged vagueness of the public purpose he
was not able to file any effective objection under section
5A of the Act. The case of Munshi Singh, it may also be
pointed out, was considered by the Constitution Bench of
this Court in the case of Aflatoon and ors. v. Lt. Governor
of Delhi and ors.(l) and it was observed that in the case of
acquisition of a large area of land comprising several plots
belonging to different persons, the specification of the
Purpose can only be with reference to the acquisition of the
whole area. Unlike in the case of acquisition of a small
area, it might practically be difficult to specify the
particular public purpose for which each and every item of
land comprised in the area is needed. This Court in that
case upheld the validity of the notification by for the
acquisition of land for "the planned development of Delhi".
In a subsequent unreported case Ratni Devi v. Chief
Commissioner(2) this Court reiterated after referring to
Aflatoon’s case that acquisition OF land for the planned
development of Delhi was for a public purpose.
There is also no force in the submission made on behalf
of the appellant that the execution of the Interim General
Plan is not a public purpose. The affidavit of Shri Rathee
shows that consequent upon the increase in the population of
Delhi after the partition of the country the Central
Government decided that a single planning and development
authority should be set up to deal with the land and housing
problems in Delhi. As the constitution of such a body would
have taken some time and as none of the existing authorities
had the necessary lower to check, control or regulate
building activities which were rapidly creating slum
conditions in the city, the Delhi (Control of Building
operations) Ordinance 1955 was promulgated on October 22,
1955. The Delhi Development (Provisional) Authority was
constituted under the provisions of the ordinance to prevent
unplanned and haphazard development and constructions. The
ordinance was later on superseded by the Delhi (Control of
Building operations) Act, 1955. Simultaneously the Town
Planning organisation was set up in November 1955 to to draw
up a Master Plan for Delhi. In September 1956 this
organization submitted an Interim General Plan which was
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 5 of 7
considered by the Central Cabinet in October 1956 and was
approved subject to such variations, as might be found
necessary on further examinations. It will thus be seen that
the Interim General Plan was prepared and published by the
Government after approval by the Cabinet as a policy
decision for development of Delhi as an interim measure,
till a Master Plan could be made ready. We have already
referred to the case of Aflatoon wherein this Court laid
down that the planned development of Delhi was a public
purpose for the purpose of section 4 of the Act. As the
object of the Interim General Plan was to prevent haphazard
and unplanned development of Delhi and thereby to ensure
planned de-
(1) A. l’. R. 1974 S. C. 2077.
(2) WP.Nos. 332and 333 of 1971 decided on April 13,
1975.
345
velopment of Delhi, the execution of the Interim General
Plan must be held to be a public purpose for the purpose of
section 4 of the Act.
Equally devoid of force is the submission that the
proceedings for the acquisition of land are liable to be
struck down on the ground that the notification under
section 4 of the Act was issued for the collateral purpose
of freezing the land of the appellant. As already stated
above, the public purpose mentioned in the notification
under section 4 of the Act was the execution of the Interim
General Plan for the Greater Delhi. It is true that the
effect of the notification under section 4 of the Act was to
freeze the land, but that fact would not in any way affect
the validity of the notification. The object of a
notification under section 4 is to give public notice that
it is proposed to acquire the land mentioned in the
notification and that any one who deals in that land
subsequent to the notification would do so at his own risk
According to section 23 of the Act, in determining the
amount of compensation to be awarded for land acquired under
the Act, the Court shall take into consideration, besides
other factors, the market value of the land at the date of
the publication of the notification under section 4. It is
further provided in section 24 of the Act that the Court
shall not take into consideration any outlay or improvements
on, or disposal of, the land acquired, commenced, made or
affected without the sanction of the Collector after the
date of the publication of the notification under section 4.
It is therefore, obvious that the consequence of the
"freezing of the land" about which complaint has been made
by the appellant is inherent in the nature; of things once a
notification under section 4 is issued.
Reference has also been made by Mr. Iyengar to the fact
that the lands of some others.which were also earlier
proposed to be acquired under the notification were
subsequently ordered not to be acquired. This fact too, in
our opinion, would not militate against the validity of the
acquisition of the land of the appellant. According to
section SA of the Act, any person interested in any land
which has been notified under section 4, sub-section (1), as
being need ed or likely to be needed for a public purpose or
for a Company may, within thirty days after the issue of the
notification, object to the acquisition of the land or of
any land in the locality, as the case may be. The objector
is then given opportunity of being heard and thereafter a
report is submitted to the appropriate Government by the
Collector containing his recommendations on the objections.
It is for the appropriate Government thereafter to take the
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 6 of 7
decision on the objections. There is, therefore, no inherent
infirmity in the decision of the Government in accepting
some of the objections and rejecting others. The question as
to what factors weighed with the authorities concerned in
deciding not to acquire the land of others need not be gone
into in these proceedings because that would not in any way
affect the validity of the acquisition of the land of the
appellant
Civil Appeal No. 989 of 1968 has been filed by the
Birla Cotton Spg. & Wvg. Mills Ltd. in connection with the
acquisition of its land
346
measuring 9 bighas 1 biswas situated in village Ada Chini.
Notification under section 4 of the Act in respect of the
appellant’s land was issued on November 13, 1959.
Declaration under section 6 of the Act was issued on May 14,
1962. Various grounds were urged before the High Court on
behalf of the appellant challenging the validity of the
acquisition of its land. We are not, however, concerned with
them all as Mr. Hardy on behalf of the appellant in this
appeal has advanced only one contention. According to the
learned counsel, no adequate opportunity was given to the
appellant of being heard after the appellant had filed
objections under section 5A of the Act to the acquisition of
the land. Clause (2) of section SA reads as under:
"(2) Every objection under sub-section (1) shall
be made to the Collector in writing, and the Collector
shall give the objector an opportunity of being heard
either in person or by pleader and shall after hearing
all such objections and after making such further
inquiry, if any, as he thinks necessary, either make a
report in respect of the land which has been notified
under section 4, sub-section (1), or make different
reports in respect of different parcels of such land,
to the appropriate Government, containing his
recommendations on the objections, together with the
record of the proceedings held by him, for the decision
of that Government. The decision of the appropriate
Government shall be, final."
After notification under section 4 of the Act was issued on
November 13, 1959 the appellant company filed objections on
December 12, 1959. Intimation was thereupon given to the
appellant that the objections were fixed for hearing in the
office of the Collector on May 9, 1961. According to the
case of the respondents, no one representing the appellant
company appeared on the date of hearing. The High Court
apparently accepted this stand and in this context observed
that no affidavit of the person who was alleged to have been
present on behalf of the appellant on May 9, 1961 had been
filed. In any case, the learned Judges had no doubt that the
objections submitted by the appellant were considered along
with the objections of other interested persons before the
decision was taken to go ahead with acquisition proceedings.
At the hearing of the appeal Mr. Hardy has referred to
judgment G dated May 15 1972 of the Delhi High Court in a
case filed by the appellant company against the respondents
relating to the acquisition of some other land of the
appellant. In that case a number of affidavits were filed
and on consideration of those affidavits as well as the fact
that the respondents had not been able to produce the
relevant file before the High Court, the High Court inferred
that a representative of the appellant has actually appeared
before the Collector on May 9, 1961 when objections relating
to the acquisition of the other land were taken up. The
finding of the Delhi High Court in
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 7 of 7
347
the other case cannot, in our opinion, be of much avail to
the appellant because we are unable to rely upon that
finding for coming to the conclusion that a representative
of the appellant actually appeared before the Collector in
support of the objections relating to the acquisition of the
land in dispute in the present case. The present case has to
be decided upon the material brought on the record in this,
case As already observed above, no affidavit of the person
who was alleged to have appeared on behalf of the appellant
before the Collector in the proceedings with which we are
concerned was filed. There is also nothing to rule out the
possibility of a person deputed to attend the hearings of
two different cases fixed for the same date in a court
appearing in only one of them and not being present when the
second case is called. The relevant file was sent for at the
instance of the appellant company and was produced before
us. It contains the written representation of the appellant.
We find no indication therein that a representative of the
appellant was actually present before the Collector on May
9, 1961. The report of the Collector shows that he
considered objections of a ,number of other parties who were
present before him and sent his recommendations about the
lands of those objectors. As regards the lands upon which
nothing had been built, the recommendation was that the
objections of the objectors be ignored. The appellant’s land
belonged to the last mentioned category. We are, therefore,
of the view that there is no force in the contention that
opportunity was not afforded to the appellant of being heard
before the Collector made his report to the appropriate
Government with his recommendations on the objections under
clause (2) of section 5A of the Act.
As a result of the above, both the appeals fail and are
dismissed with costs one hearing fee.
V.M.K. Appeals dismissed
348