ivil Appeal Nos3033 34 of 1989
From the Judgment and Order dated 2821989 of the Punjab Haryana High Court in CWP No 7209 of 1987 in LPA No 74887 and CWP No 7607 of 1987
WITH Special Leave Petition C Nos
4483 4485 of 1989
DV Sehgal RDUpadhyaya Ashok Sharma Nabhyawala DS Tewatia and Ms Madhu for the Appellants
Ms B Rana and NS Das Behl for the State for the re spondents
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by K RAMASWAMY J
Leave granted in Special leave Petitions and heard alongwith the appeals
Common questions of facts and law arise in the appeals and hence are disposed of by a common judgment
It is not necessary to restate the facts preceding the decision of the High Court of Punjab  Haryana in Gurjit Singh  Ors
vs State of Punjab  Ors
WP No 2374 of 1985
Suffice to state that the High Court in the said judgment while allow ing the ad hoc appointments made by the Government of Punjab to the posts of Patwaris under the Punjab Revenue Patwari Class II1 Service Rules 1963 for short the Rules  to continue for six months directed the State Government to make regular appointments in accordance with the rules within the said period from the date of the judgment or else the ad hoc arrangement would lapse
Pursuant thereto since the Service Selection 155 Board Punjab was not constituted the Government of Punjab by a notification dated August 26 1986 amended rule 2a and empowered the State Govt
to authorise other authori ties to make recruitment to the service
Accordingly the Govt
constituted a Committee for each District by proceed ing dated May 27 1986 to make selection
For the District Committee of Patiala the Dy
Commissioner Patiala was the Chairman the District Revenue Officer Patiala District Sainik Welfare Officer and District Social Welfare Officer Scheduled Caste were nominated as members of the Commit tee
to the pending names of the candidates before the SS Board were sent to the Committee for selection
The Dis trict Collector invited applications  from special catego ries namely children effected by the riots at Delhi terrorists effected families in Punjab etc
and issued call letters to 1210 candidates for interview
By the date of the interview Shri Piara Singh the District Revenue Officer was transferred and his successor had participated in the selec tion
Out of 821 candidates appearing for interview 189 candidates were selected the list was prepared in their order of merit and the Distt
Collector appointed 146 candidates and sent them for Patwari training and on their completion of it in a period of one year they were appoint ed as Patwaris on probation
The selections were challenged by unsuccessful candidates in several writ petitions and by judgment dated February 28 1989 the High Court dismissed the LP Appeal and the Writ Petitions
On leave under Article 136 the appeals arise from that batch
The first contention of the appellants that the Commit tee was not properly constituted and therefore the selec tion of the candidates are invalid has no force
Under rule 41 of the rules as per amended rule 2a the authority authorised by the Govt is entitled to make recruitment to the service of Patwaris
The Committee constituted consists of Dy
Commissioner as Chairman the District Revenue Offi cer Patiala District Sainik Welfare Officer and District Social Welfare Officer SC as members
Undoubtedly at the time when the Committee was constituted Piara Singh was the District Revenue Officer
On his transfer his successor had participated in the selection
We have seen the notifi cation
The Distt
Revenue Officer Patiala was nominated in official capacity
Therefore the member having been nomi nated by virtue of his office the incumbent in office was therefore entitled to participate in the selection of the candidates
It is true that the representation of the sched uled castes need be by an officer belonging to Scheduled Caste
The District Social Welfare Officer Scheduled Caste as required should be an officer belonging to the members of the scheduled caste
It is not uncommon that the Social Welfare Officer may be an officer other than one from the scheduled castes
But here in this case it is not the contention that the 156 District Social Welfare Officer was not a scheduled caste officer representing the scheduled castes
Therefore we find that the committee constituted was properly composed of the representatives enumerated therein
The composition of the committee and the selection of the candidates there fore are legal and valid
It is next contended that the District Collector was not competent to invite applications afresh and selection of the candidates from out of those applicants is illegal
It is true that he is bound by the instructions issued by the Government in Annexure D  wherein it was stated that since the number of applicants are quite large in number it would not be necessary to solicit candidate afresh from Employment Exchange or through public advertisement
But in paragraph 4 therein it was stated that priority categories listed in the proceeding dated April 24 1986 will have to be given prece dence over candidates from all other sources other than the regularisation of the existing ad hoc Patwaris
It had given room to the District Collector to invite applications from those categories
Though it was a mistaken compliance on wrong impression the selection of the candidates so apply ing does not become illegal
It was next contended that
instead of calling the applications by publication in the newspapers only notice was put on the Notice Board of the Collector s office and some candidates submitted their applications in pursuance thereof and that is not a proper notification
Though we find that the procedure adopted by the Collector in inviting applications is not ommendable but the grievance would be voiced only by the persons who did not have the opportunity to make applications within the prescribed period
But no such grievance could be raised by persons like the appellants
Under those circumstances the procedure adopted though irregular does not vitiate the selection of candidates ultimately made by the Committee
It is next sought to raise a contention that none of the candidates from the priority categories were selected and this was used only as a lever to invite applications from the candidates other than those some of which were ulti mately selected and it is irregular
We find no substance in it
That apart it is a factual position to be investigated and that no such plea was raised nor argued in the High Court
Therefore we cannot permit the appellants to raise this contention for the first time in this Court
It is next contended that there was no proper opportuni ty given to the appellants in the interview
Only 15 hours were spent to interview 821 candidates and the selection therefore is a farce
This contention also was not raised before the High Court but raised in these appeals for the first time
In the counter filed in this court it was refuted
It was stated that they had spent 35 hours in total at the rate of 7 hours per day
That 157 means they spent 5 days in selecting the candidates
The selection is for the Patwaris in the Class III service
The ratio in Ashok Yadav vs State of Haryana 1985 Suppl
1 SCR 657 has no application to the facts in this case
There in the selection was to the Class I service of the State service and sufficient time was required to interview each candidate
In this case on calculation we found that on an average three minutes were spent for each candidate for selection
Rule 7 of the rules provides the qualifications namely pass in the Matriculation or Higher Secondary Exami nation knowledge in Hindi and Punjabi upto the Middle Standard and good knowledge of rural economy and culture
The educational qualifications are apparent from record and need no interview in this regard
It could be seen that candidates normally hailing from rural backgrounds had presumptively good knowledge of rural economy and culture
Therefore there is no need for special emphasis to ascer tain their knowledge of the rural economy or culture
Under those circumstances much time need not be spent on each candidate for selection except asking some questions on general knowledge and aptitude for work as Patwari etc
It is then contended that the written test conducted by the previous Service Selection Board was abandoned and only oral interviews were conducted
The selection therefore is illegal
Normally it may be desirable to conduct written test and in particular hand writing that which is vital for a Patwari whose primary duty is to record clearly entries in revenue records followed by oral interview
The rules do not mandate to have both
Options were given either to conduct written test or viva voce or both
In this case the Commit tee adopted for viva voca as a method to select the candi dates which cannot be said to be illegal
It is next contended that the appellants have now become over aged and that they are 22 in all
Therefore direc tions may be given to the Government to relax their age qualification and given appointments to them
We find no justification to give such a direction
Admittedly the appellants have taken the chance for selection and they were not selected on the basis of comparative merits
Therefore merely because appellants are carrying on the litigation there cannot be any justification to give direction to the Govt
to consider their cases by relaxing the age qualifica tion for appointment as Patwari
It is not in dispute that hundreds of candidates who could not be selected would in that event seek similar relief
Under these circumstances we do not find any cause to add to the selection and appoint ment of the candidates as Patwaris
The High Court though for different reasons has rightly dismissed the writ peti tions
The appeals are accordingly dismissed but without costs
RP Appeals dismissed


Summary:
The lands in question owned by a Trust of which the appellant was the Managing Trustee were leased to respond ent
On his failure to pay rent the Trust filed a suit for his ejectment
The District Munsiff passed the decree on condition that the appellant would pay the respondent costs of the building or superstructure which had been built by the respondent s predecessor in interest and which the respondent had purchased from him
The litigation went upto High Court which ultimately upheld the decree
During the pendency of second appeal the respondent filed before the District Munsiff an application under Section 9 of the Tamil Nadu Tenants  Protection Act 1921 as amended by Act XIX of 1955 and Tamil Nadu Adaptation of Laws Order 1969
The provisions of the said Act were extended to the town in which the lands were situated
In the said application he prayed for the issue of a direction to the appellant to sell to the respondent the said property the land adjoining the building as it was necessary for the beneficial enjoyment of the building
The application was rejected on the ground that such a prayer had been rejected earlier
The respond ent s first appeal was allowed by the Subordinate Judge
The respondent had not surrendered the possession of the proper ty despite the deposit of the compensation amount by the appellant and the execution proceedings had remained stayed
Hence the appellant filed an appeal in the
High Court which however held that the respondent was entitled to file the application under Section 9 of the Act during the pendency of the execution proceedings and the right of the respondent had not been affected by the deposit of the compensation amount
In the appeal before this Court on behalf of the appel lant Managing Trustee it was contended that the respondent was not entitled to exercise his right to purchase the land immediately adjoining the superstructure as might be re quired for the beneficial enjoyment of the said structure as the 22 said structure had not been put up by him and that al though the respondent might have been in possession at the relevant time he had lost the possession thereafter and hence he had lost his right under Section 9
Dismissing the appeal this Court HELD 11 Under Section 9 of the Tamil Nadu Tenants  Protection Act 1921 any tenant as defined in Section 24iia who is entitled to compensation under Section 3 and against whom a suit in ejectment has been instituted or proceedings under Section 41 of the  taken by the landlord may within one month from the date of the Madras City Tenants  Protec tion Amendment Act 1955 coming into force or the date with effect from which this Act is extended to the municipal town or village in which the land is situated or within one month after the service on him of summons apply to the Court for an order that the landlord be directed to sell for a price to be fixed by the court the whole or part of the extent of land specified in the application
Section 10 of the Act makes the provisions under Section 9 applicable to cases where decree for ejectment has not been executed before the date from which the provisions of the Act are extended to the area in question
25 C E 12 In the instant case although the decree for eject ment was passed against the respondent as he had continued to remain in possession of the property and the decree had remained unexecuted till the date on which the provisions of the said Act had been extended to the area in question the right of the respondent under Section 9 was not lost
25 F 13 As regards the superstructure it was put up by the predecessor in interest from whom the respondent had pur chased
Thus the High Court was entitled to take the view that it was put up by a predecessor in interest of the re spondent
25 G 14 In these circumstances the respondent was certainly a tenant within the meaning of Section 24iia of the Act which takes within its ambit a tenant whose tenancy has been determined but continues to remain in possession entitled to compensation under Section 3 of the Act and was therefore entitled to make an application under Section 9 of the Act
25 H 25 B 23 2
The plea that although the respondent might have been in possession at the relevant time but since he lost it thereafter he lost his right under Section 9 cannot be allowed to be raised in this Court since this has not been pleaded in or considered in any of the courts below
26 A B