Full Judgment Text
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PETITIONER:
NANDESHWAR PRASAD AND ANOTHER
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
THE STATE OF U. P. AND OTHERS
DATE OF JUDGMENT:
26/04/1963
BENCH:
WANCHOO, K.N.
BENCH:
WANCHOO, K.N.
GAJENDRAGADKAR, P.B.
GUPTA, K.C. DAS
CITATION:
1964 AIR 1217 1964 SCR (3) 425
CITATOR INFO :
R 1965 SC1017 (9)
F 1965 SC1763 (4,5)
F 1973 SC 689 (20)
R 1973 SC1150 (7)
ACT:
Land Acquisition-Notification by Governor-Land required
for construction of industrial tenements-Second notification
-Collector directed to take possession-Collector’s
notification stating possession would be taken over-
Acquisition for Kanpur Development Board-Action if must be
taken under s. 114 of the Kanpur Act-Noitification under s.
6 could be issued without first taking action under s. 5A-
Land acquisition Act, 1894(1 of 1894), ss. 4,5,5A, 6,9,
17(1), 17(4), Kanpur Urban Area Development Act, 1945(Act VI
of 1945), ss. 71,114.
HEADNOTE:
In these two appeals the same questions of law arise and the
facts in C.A. No. 166 of 1962 are similar to those in C.A.
167 of 1962 which are stated below.
The appellant in C.A. No. 167 of 1962 is the owner of
certain lands situated in the city of Kanpur. The land is
occupied by a Mill and godowns and no part of the land is
waste land or arable land. In 1932 the U. P. Government
sanctioned by a notification a Scheme (Scheme No. XX) of the
improvement Trust, Kanpur. This Trust has been replaced by
the Development Board, Kanpur, by reason of the Kanpur Urban
Area Development Act, 1945.
426
In 1955 the Housing Department of the Government of
U.P, sponsored a scheme -for building industrial tenements.
Part of the scheme concerned the locality in which the land
in dispute is situated. In 1956 a notification was issued
under s. 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, by the
Governor of U.P. to the effect that the plots in dispute
were required for the construction of tenements tinder the
subsidized industrial.housing scheme of the U.P. Government
as well as for general improvement and street scheme No. XX
of the Board. This was followed by a notification under s.
6 of the Land Acquisition Act stating that the case being
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one of urgency the Governor was pleased under sub-ss. (1)
and (I-A) of s. 17 of that Act to direct that the Collector
of Kanpur, though no award under s. II had been given, might
on the expiration of the notice mentioned v. 9(1) take
possession of land mentioned in the schedule. Subsequently
a notice under s. 9 was issued which stated that possession
of the land will be taken within 15 days. The appellant
thereupon filed a writ petition under Art. 226 of the
Constitution in the High Court. Two main points were raised
in the petition. Firstly, it was contended that as the
acquisition was for the purpose of Scheme No. XX of the
Board action had to be taken in accordance with s. 114 of
the Kanpur Act and the schedule thereto and as no action had
been so taken the proceedings for acquisition were bad. In
the second place, it was urged that it was not open to the
Governor to issue the notification under s. 6 of the Land
Acquisition Act without first taking action under s. 5A
thereof. The High Court rejected both these contentions and
in the result dismissed the writ petition. The present
appeal was filed with a certificate issued by the High
Court.
In the appeal before this Court the same questions
which were agitated before the High Court were raised.
Held it is only when the Board proceeds to acquire land
by virtue of its powers under s. 71 that s. 114 comes into
play and the proceedings for acquisition have to take place
under the Land Acquisition Act as modified by s. 114 read
with the schedule. But where the acquisition is, as in the
present case, by the Government under the Land Acquisition
Act, for public purposes though that purpose may be the
purpose of the Board, the Kanpur Act has no application at
all and the Government proceeds to acquire under the
provisions of the Land Acquisition Act alone.
From the scheme of the Act it is clear that compliance
with the provisions of s.5-A is necessary before a
notification
427
can be issued under s. 6. Even where the Government makes a
direction under s. 17(1) it is not necessary that it should
also make a direction under s. 17(4). If the Government
makes a direction only under s. 17(1) the procedure under s.
5-A would stil -have to be followed before a notification
under s. 6 is issued. It is only when the Government also
makes a declaration under s. 17(4) that it becomes necessary
to take action under s. 5-A and make a report thereunder.
Under the Land Acquisition Act an order under s. 17(1) or S.
17(4) can only be passed with respect to waste or arable
land and it cannot be passed with respect to land which is
not waste or arable land on which buildings stand.
just as s. 17(1) and s. 17(4) are independent of each
other, s. 17(1.A) and s. 17(4) are independent of each other
and an order under s. 17 (I-A) would not necessarily mean
that an order under s. 17(4) must be passed.
The right to file objections under s. 5-A is a
substantial right when a person’s property is being
threatened with acquisition and that right cannot be taken
away as if by a side-wind because s. 17(1-A) mentions s.
17(1). Section 17(1-A) mentions s. 17(1) merely to indicate
the circumstances and the conditions under which possession
can be taken.
It was not open to the State Government to say in the
notification under s. 4 that proceedings under s. 5-A will
not take place. This part of the notification under s. 4 is
beyond the powers of the State Government and in consequence
the notification under s. 6 also, as it was issued without
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taking action under s. 5-A, must fail.
JUDGMENT:
CLVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeals Nos. 166 and 167
of 1962.
Appeals from the judgment and decrees dated October 25,
1957 of the Allahabad High Court in Special Appeals Nos. 140
and 139 of 1957.
J.B. Goyal, for the appellants (in C.A.No. 166 of 62).
1 C. B. Agarwala and P. C. Agarwala, for the appellants (in
C.A. No. 167 of 62).
428
K. S. Hajela and C. P. Lal, for respondent No. I (in both
the appeals).
C. P. Lal, for respondent No. 2 (in both the appeals).
1963. April 26. The judgment of the Court was
delivered by
WANCHOO J.-These two appeals on certificates granted by
the Allahabad High Court raise common questions and will be
dealt with together. It will be enough if we mention the
facts in appeal No. 167, for the facts in the other appeal
are exactly the same, except that the lands in dispute are
different in the two cases, though lying in the same area in
the city of Kanpur.
Deoki Nandan, appellant in appeal No. 167, is the
lessee of two plots in Anwarganj, Bans Mandi, Kanpur, and
his lease is for a period of 99 years from 1943. On these
plots there exists a mill known as Om Cotton Ginning and Oil
Mill. Besides the mill there are pacca godowns also on the
plots and two-thirds of the area is under buildings while
onethird is open land paved with bricks. No part of the
land is waste or arable.
It appears that in February 1932 the Government of U.
P. sanctioned by notification a scheme known as Pechbagh
Dalelpurwa Scheme No. XX (hereinafter referred to as scheme
No. XX) of the Improvement Trust Kanpur. It may be
mentioned that the Improvement Trust Kanpur has now been
replaced by the Development Board Kanpur (hereinafter
referred to as the Board) by the Kanpur Urban Area
Development Act, No. VI of 1945, (hereinafter referred to as
the Kanpur Act), which repealed the U. P. Town Improvement
Act, No. III of 1920, insofar as it applied to Kanpur. It
is not clear what
429
happened to scheme No. XX after 1932; but it does appear
that it was not fully carried out.
It appears that in 1955 a scheme known as subsidized
industrial housing scheme was sponsored by Housing
Department of the U. P. Government. This scheme was to be
put in force in four phases. and we are concerned in the
present appeal with the fourth phase. For that phase the
Government of India had sanctioned over rupees two crores
and it was decided to build 6973 tenements of which 1368
were to be in an Ahata on the Hamirpur road. We are
concerned with this part of the scheme, for the lands in
dispute are in this locality. The decision in this
connection was taken by the Government of U. P. in May 1955.
Thereafter on January 6, 1956, a notification was issued
under s. 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, (No. I of 1894) by
the Governor of U. P. to the effect that the two plots in
dispute were required for the construction of tenements in
the fourth phase of the subsidized industrial housing scheme
sponsored by the Government of U. P. as well as for general
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improvement and street scheme No. XX of the Board. This was
followed by a notification under s. 6 of the Land
Acquisition Act on January 31, 1956. That notification
further said that the case being one of urgency the Governor
was pleased under sub-ss. (1) and (I-A) of s. 17 of the Land
Acquisition Act to direct that the collector of Kanpur,
though no award under s. 11, has been made, might on the
expiration of the notice mentioned in s. 9 (1) take
possession of lands, buildings and structures forming part
of the land mentioned in the schedule for public purposes.
Then followed a notice under s. 9 by the Collector on
February 10, 1956, which said that possession would be taken
over 15 days after the issue of the notice i. e. on February
25, 1956. On receipt of this notice, Deoki Nandan appellant
filed his objections before the Collector on February 21,
1956,
430
Two days later, on February 23, 1956, he filed the writ
petition in the High Court out of which the present appeal
has arisen.
In this writ petition two main points were urged on
behalf of the appellant. It was first urged that as the
acquisition was for the purposes of scheme No. XX of the
Board, action had to be taken in accordance with s. 114 of
the Kanpur Act and the schedule thereto and as no action had
been so taken, the proceedings for acquisition were bad. In
the second place, it was urged that it was not open to the
Governor to issue the notification under s. 6 of the Land
Acquisition Act without first taking action under s. 5-A
thereof. It is not in dispute that no action was taken
under s. 5-A and no report was made as required therein.
The writ petition was dismissed by the learned Single
judge who heard it. On the first question he held that this
was not a case to which the Kanpur Act applied. On the
second question, he held that s. 17 (4) applied and
therefore it was not necessary to take proceedings to comply
with s. 5-A before issuing a notification under s. 6. Then
followed an appeal which was heard by a Division Bench of
the High Court. The appeal court upheld the view taken by
the learned Single Judge and dismissed the appeal. However,
the appeal court granted a certificate as prayed for, and
that is how the matter has come up before us.
The same two questions which were agitated in the High
Court have been raised before us. In the first place, it is
urged that as the acquisition was for scheme No. XX of the
Board, action should have been taken under the Kanpur Act
and as this was Dot done the entire proceedings are bad
including the issue of the notifications under s. 4 and s.
6. In the second place, it is urged that s. 17 (4) could not
431
apply in the present case and no notification under s. 6
could be issued unless s. 5-A had been complied with. As no
such compliance was admittedly made, the notification under
s. 6 in any case is bad, even if the notification under s. 4
is good.
Turning now to the first point, the main reliance of
the appellant is on s. 114 of’ the Kanpur Act, which is in
these terms :-
"Modification of the Land Acquisition Act,
1894-For the purpose of the acquisition of
land for the Board under the land Acquisition
Act, 1894-
(a) the said Act shall be subject to the
modification specified in the Schedule to this
Act;
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(b) the award of the Tribunal shall be
deemed to be the award of the court under the
Land Acquisition Act, 1894."
We may also refer to s. 108 which provides for constitution
of the tribunal and s. 109 which lays down that the tribunal
shall perform the functions of the court with reference to
the acquisition of land for the Board under the Land
Acquisition Act, 1894. Further, it is necessary to refer to
s. 71 (1) also which provides that "the Board may, with the
previous sanction of the State Government, acquire land
under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, as
modified by the provisions of this Act, for carrying out any
of the purposes of this Act". The argument on behalf of the
appellants is that where land is acquired for the purposes
of the Board action has to be taken under ch. VII which
provides for various kinds of development schemes for the
Board and the procedure for making such schemes. After
this procedure laid down in ch. VII is gone through, (and
it is not in dispute that no s c procedure was gone through
in the present case insofar as scheme No. XX is concerned),
s. 114 comes
432
into play and acquisition has to take place under the
modified provisions of the Land Acquisition Act even where
the Government is acquiring the land. Stress in this
connection is laid on the words "acquisition of land for the
Board" in s. 114, and it is said that whenever there is
acquisition of land for the Board, action can only be taken,
even though it is the Government which is acquiring the
land, under the modified provisions of the Land Acquisition
Act ,contained in the Kanpur Act.
We are of opinion that this argument is fallacious. If
one looks at the scheme of the Kanpur Act, one finds that
ch. VII provides for various kinds of development schemes
and the procedure for finalising them. After the scheme is
finalised under ch. VII power is given to the Board to
purchase the land required for the scheme or take it on
lease under s. 70. Then s. 71 provides in the alternative
that the Board may with the previous sanction of the State
Government acquire land under the provisions of the Land
Acquisition Act as modified by the provisions of the Kanpur
Act. It is only when the Board proceeds to acquire land by
virtue of its powers under s. 71 that s. 114 comes into play
and the proceedings for acquisition have to take place under
the Land Acquisition Act as modified by s. 114 read with the
schedule. It is true that s. 114 speaks of acquisition of
land for the Board, and the argument is that when s. 114
speaks of acquisition of land for the Board, it applies to
acquisition of land for the Board by the Government and not
to acquisition by the Board, which is provided by s. 71 (1).
This interpretation of’ s. 114 is in our opinion incorrect.
Section 71 certainly provides for acquisition of land by the
Board when it says that the Board may acquire land under the
provisions of the Land Acquisition Act as modified by the
Kanpur Act; but that’ acquisition is also by that very
section for carrying out the
433
purposes of the Act i.e. for the Board. Therefore when s.
71 authorises the Board to acquire land under the Land
Acquisition Act as modified by the Kanpur Act, the
acquisition is for the Board. Section 71 further speaks of
the modification of the provisions of the Land Acquisition
Act. This modification is not provided in s. 71 itself. In
order to find out the modification we have to go to s. 114.
Therefore, s.114 merely serves the purpose of indicating the
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modification which has been mentioned in s. 71. There is no
reason to hold, because the words "acquisition of land for
the Board" appear in s.114, that this acquisition is by the
Government for the Board. The scheme of the Kanpur Act
clearly shows that the Board frames a scheme and then
decides to acquire the land for itself tinder s. 71 with the
previous sanction of the State Government. If it so
decides, s. 114 applies to such an acquisition by the Board
for itself with the necessary modification in the Land
Acquisition Act. We may in this connection refer to s. 109,
which describes the duties of the tribunal. Now there is no
doubt that where the Board is acquiring land under" s. 71 of
the Kanpur Act, it is the tribunal which takes the place of
the court in the Land Acquisition Act. But s. 109 also uses
the same words, namely acquisition of land for the Board.
As the acquisition by the Board is also for the Board, there
can be no doubt that the scheme of the Kanpur Act is that
the Board first proceeds under ch. VII, then decides to
acquire land under s. 71. and if it so decides s.114 comes
into play with the modifications in the Land Acquisition Act
mentioned in the schedule. Two modifications in the
schedule are the replacement of the notification under s.4
by the notification under s. 53 in ch. VII and the
replacement of notification under s. 6 by the notification
under s.60 also in chap. VI I. It is obvious that ch. VII,
s. ’11, s.1 14 and the other provisions in ch. XI dealing
with modifications and the modifications in the schedule are
all part of one scheme, where the Board is acquiring
434
land itself for its own purpose with the previous sanction
of Government; but where the acquisition is, as in the
present case, by the Government under the Land Acquisition
Act, for public purpose though that purpose may be the
purpose of the Board, the Kanpur Act has no application at
all., and the Government proceeds to acquire under the
provisions of the Land Acquisition Act alone. The
contention therefore on behalf of the appellants that the
Kanpur Act has not been complied with and therefore the
proceedings for acquisition of land are bad has no force and
must be rejected.
We now come to the second point raised on behalf of the
appellants. For that purpose we may briefly refer to the
scheme of the Land Acquisition Act, The proceedings for
acquisition start with a preliminary notification under s.4.
By that notification the Government notifies that land in
any locality is needed or is likely to be needed for any
public purpose. On that notification certain consequences
follow and authority is conferred on an officer ’either
generally or specially by Government and on his servants and
workmen to enter upon and survey and take levels of any land
in such locality, to dig or bore into the sub-soil, to do
all other acts necessary to ascertain whether the land is
adapted for such purpose, to set out the boundaries of the
land proposed, to be taken, and so on. Then s. 5-A provides
that any person interested in any land which has been
notified in s.4, may within thirty days of the issue of the
notification object to the acquisition of the land .or of
any land in the locality as the case maybe. Every such
objection shall be made to. the Collector in writing and the
Collector has to give the objector an opportunity of being
heard. After hearing all objections and after making
further inquiry if any, as he thinks fit, the Collector has
to submit the case for the decision of the Government
together with the record of the proceedings held by him and
the report
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435
containing his recommendations on the objections. the
decision of the Government on the objections is final. Then
comes the notification under s.6, which provides that when
the appropriate government is satisfied after considering
the report, if any, made under s. 5-A that any particular
land is needed for a public purpose, a declaration shall be
made to that effect and published in the official gazette.
After such a declaration has been made under s.6, the Co-
llector has to take order for acquisition of land. It is
marked out, measured and planned under s. 8 if necessary and
notice is given under s. 9 to persons interested. The
Collector then holds inquiry under s. II and makes an award.
After the award is made the Collector has got the power to
take possession of the land under s. 16 and the land then
vests absolutely in the Government free from all
encumbrances.
It will be clear from this scheme that compliance with
the provisions of s. 5-A is necessary before a notification
can be issued under s. 6. As soon as the preliminary
notification is issued under s.4, the officer authorised by
Government may enter upon the land to survey it and to do
all other necessary acts to ascertain whether the land is
adapted for the purpose for which it is to be acquired, and
this action, if taken, will give sufficient notice to those
interested to object. If objections are made the Collector
will consider those objections and make his recommendation
thereon in his report to Government. If no objections are
made the Collector will report that no objection has been
made and the Government then proceeds to issue a
notification under s.6. In either case however, the
Collector has got to make a report with his recommendations
on the objections if they are filed or inform the Government
that there are no objections filed in pursuance of the
notification under s. 4 and it is thereafter that the
Government is empowered under s. 6 to issue a notification.
This, as We have said,is the usual procedure to be followed
436
before the notification under s.6 is issued: To this usual
procedure there is however an exception under s.17, and that
is why in s. 6 we find the words "if any" in the clause
after considering the report , if any, made under s. 5A".
When action is taken under s. 17 (4), it is not necessary to
follow the procedure in s. 5-A and a notification under s.6
can be issued without a report from the Collector under s.
5-A. In the present appeals we are concerned with ss. 17
(1) and 17 (4), which we now read:-
"17 (1). In cases of urgency, whenever the
appropriate Government so directs, the Collec-
tor, though no such award has been made, may,
on the expiration of fifteen days from the
publication of the notice mentioned in section
9, sub-section (1), take possession of any
waste or arable land needed for public
purposes or for a company, such land shall
thereupon vest absolutely in the Government,
free from all encumbrances."
"17 (4). In the case of any land to which, in
the opinion of the appropriate Government, the
provisions of sub-section (1) or sub-section
(2) are applicable, the appropriate Government
may direct that the provisions of section 5A
shall not apply, and if it does so direct, a
declaration may be- made under section 6 in
respect of the land at any time after the
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publication of the notification under section
4, subsection (1)."
It will be seen that s. 17 (1) gives power to the Government
to direct the Collector, though no award has been made under
s. 11, to take possession of any waste or arable land needed
for public purpose and such land thereupon vests absolutely
in the Government free from all encumbrances. If action is
taken under s. 17 (1), taking possession and vesting which
437
are provided in s. 16 after the award under s. 11 are
accelerated and can take place fifteen days after the
publication of the notice under s. 9. Then comes s..17 (4)
which provides that in case of any land to which the
provisions of sub-s. (1) are applicable, the Government may
direct that the provisions of s. 5-A shall not apply and if
it does so direct, a declaration may be made under s. 6 in
respect of the land at any time after the publication of the
notification under s. 4 (1). It will be seen that it is not
necessary even where the Government makes a direction under
s. 17 (1) that it should also make a direction under s. 17
(4). If the Government makes a direction only under s. 17
(1) the procedure under s. 5-A would still have to be
followed before a notification under s. 6 is issued, though
after that procedure has been followed and a notification
under s. 6 is issued the Collector gets the power to take
possession of the land after the notice under s. 9 without
waiting for the award and on such taking possession the land
shall vest absolutely in Government free from all
encumbrances. It is only when the Government also makes a
declaration under s. 17 (4) that it becomes unnecessary to
take action under s. 5-A and make a report thereunder. It
may be that generally where an order is made under s. 17
(1), an order under s. 17 (4) is also passed; but in law it
is not necessary that this should be so. It will also be
seen that under the Land Acquisition Act an order under s.
17 (1) or s. 17 (4) can only be passed with respect to waste
or arable land and it cannot be passed with respect to land
which is not waste or arable and on which buildings stand.
This brings us to s. 17 (I-A) introduced in s. 17 of
the Land Acquisition Act by the Land Acquisition (U. P.
Amendment) Act, (No. XXII of 1954). Section 6 of that Act
is in these terms :-
"After sub-section (1) of section 17 of the
Principal Act (i. a. Land Acquisition Act) the
438
following shall be inserted as a new sub-
section (I-A):
,(I-A). The power to take possession under
sub-section (1) may also be exercised in the
case of other than waste or arable land, where
the land is acquired for or in connection with
sanitary improvements of any kind or planned
development."
It is not in dispute before us that the land in the present
case was required for planned development. Therefore
subsection (1-A) as inserted by the U. P. Act into the Land
Acquisition Act applies. The contention on behalf of the
appellants however is that sub’s. (1-A) gives merely power
to take possession of land other than waste or arable land
where the land is acquired for or in connection with sani-
tary improvements of any kind or planned development. It is
further urged that sub-s. (1) is mentioned in sub-s. (I -A)
merely to import the circumstances in which the power to
take possession may be exercised with respect to land other
than waste or arable and the time when such power may be
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exercised thearguement further is that s. 17 (4) was not
amended by the U.P. Act XXII by including the new sub-
s.(1.A) also in that sub-section. Sub-section (4) still
stands as it was; therefore it still applies to waste and
arable land only.
There is force in this argument. There has been no
change by the U. P. Act in sub-s. (1) and therefore when
sub-s. (4) speaks of any land to which sub-s. (1) applies it
still refers only to waste or arable land and no other. It
is true that by sub s. (I-A) as introduced by U. P. Act in
s. 17, power has been given to take possession in case of
land other than the waste or arable; but this does not
necessarily mean that sub-s. (4) will also apply to a case
of )and other than waste or arable simply because power has
been
439
given by sub-s. (I-A) to take possession of land other than
waste or arable. It seems to us that when sub-s. (1) is
mentioned in sub-s. (I-A) as introduced by the U. P. Act it
only means that the power can be exercised to take
possession of land other than waste or arable in the same
circumstances and at the same time as it could be exercised
with respect to arable or waste land as provided in sub-s.
(1), and nothing more Sub-section (I-A) as introduced by
the U. P. Act therefore has the effect only of accelerating
the taking of possession which normally can take place after
the award has been made under S. 11 in the case of land
other than waste or arable in the circumstances and under
the conditions mentioned in sub-s. (1). But sub-s. (I-A)
does not amend sub-s. (1) so as to include within that sub-
section land other than waste or arable. Therefore when
sub-s. (4) was not amended by the U. P. legislature to
include sub-s. (1-A) as introduced by it can apply only to
waste or arable land mentioned in sub-s. (1), which also
remained unamended. We have already pointed out that it is
not necessary in law that when an order is passed under s.
17 (1), an order under S. 17 (4) must also be passed.
similarly if an order is passed under sub-S. (1-A) it
does not necessarily follow that an order must bepassed
under S. 17 (4). Sections 17 (1) and 17 (4) are independent
of each other in the sense that an order under the former
does not necessarily require an order under the latter.
Similarly s. 17 (I-A) must be independent of S. 17 (4) and
an order under S. 17 (I-A) would not necessarily mean that
an order under S. 17 (4) must be passed. In these
circumstances it seems to us that if the legislature
intended that provisions of sub-s. (4) should also apply to
a case falling under sub-s. (I-A), it has failed to carry
out that intention. Sub-section (I-A) has been added as an
independent sub-section and no amendment has been made
either in sub-s. (1) or sub-s. (4); nor has any separate
provision been made
440
for applying sub-s. (4) to a case falling under sub-s. (I
-A) and so subs. (4) cannot be applied to sub-s. (I-A). The
right to file objections under s. 5-A is a substantial right
when a person’s property is being threatened with
acquisition and we cannot accept that that right can be
taken away as if by a side-wind because sub-s. (I-A)
mentions sub-s. (I). As we have already pointed out sub-s.
(1) has been mentioned in sub s. (I-A) merely to indicate
the circumstances and the conditions under which possession
can be taken. The legislature has mentioned sub-s. (1) in
sub-s. (I-A) as a measure of economy; otherwise sub-s. (I-A)
would have read as follows :-
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"In cases of urgency, whenever the appropriate
Government so directs, the Collector, though
no such award has been made, may, on the
expiration of fifteen days from the
publication of the notice mentioned in section
9, sub-section (1), take possession of any
land other than waste or arable land for
public purposes where the land is acquired for
or in connection with sanitary improvements of
any kind or planned development."
Now if there had been Do economy of words and sub-s. (I-A)
had read as we have indicated above, it could Dot have been
possible to argue that sub-s. (4) of s. 17 also covered
cases of s. 17 (1-A). Therefore, simply because for the
sake of economy of words the legislature has used the words
which it did in sub-s. (I-A), it cannot be said that it was
either amending sub-s. (1) or sub-s. (4). In the absence of
such amendment either in sub-s. (1) or sub-s. (4) and in the
absence of any specific provision being introduced in s. 17
by which sub-s. (4) was also to apply to the new sub-s. (I-
A), it cannot be said that power was conferred on the State
Government to apply sub-s. (4) also to a case falling under
sub-s. (1-A),
441
simply by the introduction of sub-s. (I-A) in the form in
which it was introduced in s. 17. We are therefore of
opinion that it was not open to the State Government to say
in the notification under s. 4 that proceedings under s. 5-A
shall not take place. This part of the notification under
s. 4 is therefore beyond the powers of the State Government.
In consequence the notification under s. 6 also as it was
issued without taking action under s. 5-A must fall. The
appeals must therefore be allowed and the notification under
s. 6 and that part of the notification under s. 4, which
says that the-Governor was pleased to direct that under sub-
s. (4) of s. 17, the provisions of s. 5- A shall not apply,
are bad and are hereby set aside. Rest of the notification
under s. 4 will stand and it will be open to the Government
if it so chooses to proceed with the acquisition after
action is taken under s. 5-A and thereafter to issue a noti-
fication under s. 6 of the Land Acquisition Act. In the
circumstances we feel that the appellants should be given an
opportunity under s. 5-A now, though the period for making
objections provided in that section expired long ago in view
of the misunderstanding of the law on the part of the
Government by treating the objections made before the
Collector after the issue of the notices under s. 9 as
objections under s. 5-A. The appellants will get their
costs of this Court from the respondents; one set of hearing
fee.
Appeals allowed.
442