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  • Section 4, Section 6 of the <unknown Act>
  • Section 3(c) of the Land Acquisition Act
  • Article 226 of the Constitution
  • Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894
  • Section 7 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894
  • Section 4 and Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act
  • Section 5-A(2) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894
  • Section 6 of the Act
  • Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894
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Cites
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Citation Codes
Equivalent Citations
citation codes
Case Number
Disposition
Judges
Acts
  • Section 4, Section 6 of the <unknown Act>
  • Section 3(c) of the Land Acquisition Act
  • Article 226 of the Constitution
  • Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894
  • Section 7 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894
  • Section 4 and Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act
  • Section 5-A(2) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894
  • Section 6 of the Act
  • Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894
Smart Summary

Factual and Procedural Background

On 19 April 1949 the State of Uttar Pradesh issued a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 declaring that 117 bighas and 9 biswas of land were needed “for the construction of residential quarters for the members of the Aligarh Co-operative Housing Society Ltd., Vishnupuri, Aligarh.” An agreement under Part VII of the Act was executed between the Governor of Uttar Pradesh and the said Co-operative Housing Society in November 1951. A subsequent Section 6 notification dated 30 November 1951 reiterated that the land was required for the same purpose and directed the Collector to take steps under Section 7. An award covering about 27 bighas was passed on 22 January 1962.

Nine writ petitions challenging the acquisition were later filed before the Allahabad High Court. Some were allowed by Mathur, J.; the writ petition that ultimately led to the present appeal was dismissed by Broome, J., and a Division Bench affirmed that dismissal. The unsuccessful petitioner obtained special leave, resulting in the present Supreme Court appeal.

Legal Issues Presented

  1. Whether the Section 4 and Section 6 notifications were invalid because they described the acquisition as “for a public purpose” even though the entire compensation was to be paid by a company (the Co-operative Housing Society), and therefore should have expressly stated that the land was “needed for a company.”
  2. Whether the acquisition could proceed when, according to the appellant, parts of the land had been released by subsequent rescission of the Section 6 notification.

Arguments of the Parties

Appellant’s Arguments

  • The Section 6 declaration was defective: under Shyam Behari v. State of Madhya Pradesh a notification is invalid if it recites a “public purpose” while the entire compensation is payable by a company; it must instead declare that the land is “needed for a company.”
  • Because portions of the notified land were allegedly released later, the remaining acquisition could not stand.

The opinion does not provide detailed arguments from the respondents.

Table of Precedents Cited

Precedent Rule or Principle Cited For Application by the Court
Shyam Behari v. State of Madhya Pradesh, AIR 1965 SC 427; (1964) 6 SCR 636 Where the entire compensation is to be paid by a company, a Section 6 notification must state that the acquisition is “for a company” and not merely “for a public purpose.” Distinguished: unlike in Shyam Behari, the present notifications expressly mentioned that the land was for constructing residential quarters for the Co-operative Housing Society, thereby identifying the company.
State of W.B. v. P.N. Talukdar, AIR 1965 SC 646; (1966) 1 SCJ 28 A notification that specifies the purpose linked to a named society can sufficiently indicate that the acquisition is for a company, even if it does not use that exact phrase. Followed: the Court found the present case analogous because both the Section 4 and Section 6 schedules named the Co-operative Housing Society as the beneficiary, satisfying the statutory requirement.

Court’s Reasoning and Analysis

The Court held that the defect identified in Shyam Behari was absent. Both the Section 4 and Section 6 notifications contained schedules explicitly stating that the land was required “for the construction of residential quarters for the members of the Aligarh Co-operative Housing Society Ltd., Vishnupuri, Aligarh.” This direct reference to the Society made it clear that the acquisition was for a company within Section 3(c) of the Act, satisfying the statutory requirement even though the declaration used the words “public purpose.”

Relying on P.N. Talukdar, the Court reasoned that explicit identification of the Society made the acquisition compliant with Part VII procedures and the accompanying Government-Society agreement further confirmed that status. Accordingly, Broome, J.’s view in the High Court dismissing the writ petition was upheld.

The second ground—asserting that parts of the land had been released—was rejected because it had not been pleaded in the writ petition and involved questions of fact not examined by the courts below. The Supreme Court declined to entertain it at the appellate stage.

Holding and Implications

APPEAL DISMISSED.

The Supreme Court affirmed the validity of the acquisition and left the parties to bear their own costs. The decision confirms that identifying a company in the schedule to Section 4 and Section 6 notifications, together with an agreement under Part VII, is sufficient compliance even if the body of the notification refers to a “public purpose.” No new precedent was set, but existing principles were clarified and applied to uphold the acquisition.

    Ram Sarup v. Land Acquisition Officer, Aligarh And Others

    A.N Grover, J.— This is an appeal by special leave from a judgment of the Allahabad High Court. The facts may be shortly stated.

    2. By means of a notification, dated April 19, 1949, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter called “the Act”) it was notified for general information that the land mentioned in the schedule was needed for a public purpose. In the schedule the area was given as 117 Bighas and 9 Biswas. The schedule also contained the following:

    “For what purpose required. — For the construction of residential quarters for the members of Aligarh Cooperative Housing Society Limited, Vishnupuri, Aligarh.”

    3. In November 1951, an agreement was entered into between the Governor of U.P and the Cooperative Housing Society Ltd., Vishnupuri, Aligarh, in accordance with the provisions of Part VII of the Act. On November 30, 1951, a notification was issued under Section 6 of the Act in which it was stated that the Governor after considering the report made under Section 5-A(2) of the Act was pleased to declare under Section 6 that he was satisfied that the land mentioned in the schedule was needed for a public purpose. Under Section 7 the Collector was directed to take order for the acquisition of the land. In the schedule the same words appeared as appeared in the notification under Section 4 viz.:

    “For what purpose required. — For the construction of residential quarters for the members of the Aligarh Co-operative Housing Society Ltd., Vishnupuri, Aligarh.”

    4. On January 22, 1962, an award was given with regard to an area covering 27 Bighas odd.

    4-A. It appears that nine petitions were filed under Article 226 of the Constitution in the Allahabad High Court challenging the acquisition made. Some of these petitions were heard by Mathur, J. who allowed them. The petition out of which this appeal has arisen was disposed of by Broome, J. and he dismissed it. An appeal was filed before the Division Bench but the same was dismissed.

    5. The first argument that has been sought to be raised before us on behalf of the appellant is that the notifications under Sections 4 and 6 and, in particular, the notification under Section 6 says that the land which was being acquired was needed for a public purpose and not for a company although in the schedule it was mentioned that the purpose for which it was required was the construction of residential quarters for the purpose of members of the Aligarh Cooperative Housing Society Ltd., Vishnupuri, Aligarh. A good deal of reliance has been placed on the decision of this Court in Shyam Behari v. State of Madhya Pradesh AIR 1965 SC 427, (1964) 6 SCR 636 in which it was laid down that where the entire compensation is to be paid by a company (which is admittedly the case here) the notification under Section 6 must contain a declaration that the land is needed for a company. No notification under Section 6 can be made where the entire compensation is to be paid by a company declaring that the acquisition is for a public purpose. Such a declaration requires that either wholly or in part, compensation must come out of public revenues or some fund controlled or managed by a local authority. In that case, however, it is apparent that the public purpose which was mentioned in the notification issued under Section 4 was “for the construction of buildings for godowns and administrative office”. In the notification issued under Section 6 all that was stated was that the land was needed for a public purpose, namely for the Premier Refractory Factory and work connected therewith. However, the company for which the land was required was the Premier Refractories of India Private Limited, Katni. It was under these circumstances that this Court pointed not that there was nothing in the notifications to show that the land was needed for the Premier Refractories of India Private Limited, Katni or any other company. All that the notification under Section 6 said was that the land was needed for a public purpose and the public purpose mentioned there was that the land was required for the Premier Refractory Factory and work connected therewith. There was no mention of the company and it could not necessarily be concluded that the Premier Refractory Factory was a company or a factory; for a factory is something very different from a company and may belong to a company or to Government or to a local body or even to an individual.

    6. In our judgment the above decision is clearly distinguishable from the facts of the present case. As already mentioned, in both the notifications issued under Sections 4 and 6 of the Act it was clearly mentioned in the schedule that the purpose for which the acquisition was being made was the construction of residential quarters for the members of Cooperative Housing Society Ltd., Vishnupuri, Aligarh.

    7. The present case has greater similarity with the facts in a subsequent decision of this Court in State of West Bengal v. P.N Talukdar AIR 1965 SC 646, (1966) 1 SCJ 28. There in the notification under Section 6 it was stated that the land was needed for a public purpose, namely for the construction of staff quarters, etc., of Ramakrishna Mission and was needed for that public purpose. It was held that the acquisition was for a society which was a company within the meaning of Section 3(c) of the Land Acquisition Act and that the notification did indicate that the land was needed for a company though it did not say so in so many words. Reference was made there to the agreement which had been entered into between the company and the Government. In the present case also an agreement had been entered into and in view of the statements contained in the schedule in the notification we have no manner of doubt that the acquisition was clearly being made for a company. The view taken by Broome, J. for these reasons must be upheld.

    8. Another point sought to be raised on behalf of the appellant was that the notification under Section 6 had been rescinded with regard to some of the areas and, therefore, there could be no acquisition of the area in question. Even in the writ petition no such contention or plea was raised nor was any proposition formulated in the terms in which it is sought to be urged before us. It raises not merely a pure question of law but also involves facts. It will have to be determined whether the details which are given in Para 10 of the special leave petition are factually correct. It is argued that these facts are apparent from the award which is already on the record. We are unable to allow such a point to be raised in this Court because it was not even raised in the writ petition.

    9. The appeal fails and is dismissed. There will be no order as to costs in this Court.

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    Ram Sarup v. Land Acquisition Officer, Aligarh And Others
    (Apr 12, 1972)