been clearly mentioned that they shall be deemed to have been made ap plicable from 1st April 1974
The Board had set up 280 their case in the reply to the writ petition on the basis of these Regulations and it was the duty of the Division Bench of the High Court to have looked into the reply filed by the Board and to decide the effect of such statutory regulations in the present case
291D E 5 The High Court committed a serious error in ignoring clause IX of the First Settlement dated 2221972 as well as the Regulations made by the Board in 1978
291H  CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Civil Appeal No 2917 of 1985
WITH Civil Appeal Nos
2900 2901 2903 2916 of 1985 and 2918 21 of 1985
From the Judgment and Order dated 2151984 Judgment pronounced on 27 1984 of the Rajasthan High Court in DB Civil Special Appeal No 172 of 1984
Dr LM Singhvi Sushil Kumar Jain Shahid Rizvi Dr DK Singh Pradeep Agarwal Pratibha Jain and Sudhanshu Atreya for the Appellants
Rajinder Singhvi MR Singhvi and Surya Kant for the Respondents
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by KASLIWAL J
All these civil appeals by special leave are directed against the Judgments of the Rajasthan High Court dated May 11 1984 May 21 1984 and the reasons whereof pronounced on 27
Controversy raised in all these cases is whether the respondents are entitled to pay scale No 2 or pay scale No 3
The Government of India vide its Resolution dated 20th May 1966 constituted a General Wage Board for electricity undertakings for evolving wage structure specialisation of nomenclature and job description
The recommendations of the said Wage Board were accepted by the Government of India in July 1970
The Prantiya Vidyut Mandal Mazdoor Federation in short the Federation recognised trade union of the employees of the Rajasthan State Electricity Board presented their demands before the Labour Department of the 281 Government of Rajasthan for implementation of the recommen dations of the Wage Board
While the said industrial dispute between the management of the Board and its employees was pending before the Conciliation Officer a settlement was arrived at on February 22
By this agreement the parties agreed that the existing scale of pay of various categories of posts would be revised wef
1st April 1969
The schedule of the said agreement set out various catego ries of posts under different pay scales
At St No 21 Meter ReaderMeter Checker was mentioned under scale No 3 ie Rs 126 8 150 10 250
In pursuance to the above settle ment the Board issued a notification dated 22nd March 1972 revising the pay scales of its employees wef 1st April 1969
Subsequent to this agreement the Board entered into another agreement with the Federation on December 2 1972 hereinafter referred to as the Second Settlement
In the second settlement
it was mentioned that this was done in view of some anomalies and difficulties which had cropped up in the course of implementation of previous agreements dated January 26 1970 April 27 1971 and July 28 1972
It was also mentioned in the said settlement that it was considered desirable to remove the anomalies and clarify certain points by mutual negotiations
The settlement was made effective wef
1st April 1968
In the second settlement it was agreed to have two categories for Meter Readers ie Meter Reader IMeter Checker I and Meter Reader IIMeter Checker II
The relevant Clause in this regard reads as under II
Under pay scale No 3 technical read 21 Meter Reader IMeter Checker I and under pay scale No 2 technical insert 7 Meter Reader IMeter Checker II and insert the following Note below pay scale No 2 Meter Reader IIMeter Checker II appointedfixed pro motedadjusted on or before 313
1968 will be fixed in pay scale No 3 instead of pay scale No2
The Board in accordance with the second settlement issued another Notification dated 612
1972 whereby the previous Notification dated March 22 1972 was amended
Some of the employees namely Jagdish Prasad Brij Mohan Madho Singh Prakash Chander section Samuel Brij Lal and Chander Bhan filed writ petitions in the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan at Jodhpur and challenged the Notification dated 6th December 1972
It may be noted that all these employees were appointees before 612
Learned Single Judge of the High Court by Judgment dated 21st March 1979 allowed the write 282 petitions and quashed the Notification dated 6th December 1972 mainly on the ground that the second settlement could not have been made as no conciliation proceedings were pending before such settlement and that the date 141968 mentioned in the notification for making the settlement effective was arbitrary and without basis
The Board filed on appeal before the Division Bench which by their judgment dated 19th December 1979 dismissed the same and upheld the judgment of the Learned Single Judge
The Board implemented the judgment of the High Court in respect of Jagdish Prasad  Ors
and issued orders to provide scale No 3 to all Meter Readers appointed upto 612
After 6th December 1972 some more persons were appoint ed on the post of Meter ReaderMeter Checker Grade II ie in the pay scale of Rs80 5 110 6 152 7 194 between the period 1972 1979
Some of the employees again filed writ petitions in the High Court
The High Court vide its judg ment dated 29th March 1982 allowed the writ petitions on the ground that the second settlement had already been quashed by the earlier judgment given in Brij Lal vs Rajas than State Electricity Board 1979 WEN UC 221
The High Court inter alia held and observed as under Once the second settlement dated December 6 1972 no longer exists in view of non compliance with Section 192 of the aforesaid Act and in view of the decision of this Court in Brijlal s case supra the only settlement which can be said to be in existence is the first settlement dated February 22 1972
The aforesaid settlement only provides one grade scale No 3 item No 21 for Meter Reader Check er and therefore the petitioner is entitled to be fixed in that grade
Merely because the post of Meter Reader IIChecker II was advertised with pay scale No 2 and the petitioner applied and was selected it cannot be said that the petitioner is estopped now from challenging his fixation in the aforesaid pay scale
There can be no estoppel against statute
The petitioner was not knowing and could not know that it is the first settlement dated February 22 1972 which was in force and the settlement dated December 6 1972 was invalid and therefore no case of estoppel is made out against the petitioner
Once this Court had quashed the second settlement dated December 6 1972 and held that the first settlement 283 dated 222 1972 Was in force it Was necessary for the Board to have fixed the Meter ReaderMeter Checker in scale No 3 item No 21 of Schedule A  to the first settlement
The Board in spite of demand made to it by the petitioner in this behalf refused to do it
A bunch of 35 identical writ petitions directing the Board to fix the petitioners in the pay scale No 3 Rs 126 250 as revised from time to time were allowed by learned Single Judge of the High Court by a common order dated November 15 1983
The Board filed special appeals before the Division Bench
The Division Bench dismissed the special appeals by orders dated 1151984 2151984 and observed that the reasons will be recorded later on
The Division Bench thereafter pronounced the reasons by order dated 27
The Board has now filed these appeals restricted to such employees who were appointed as Meter ReadersCheckers grade II after 141974
It may also be mentioned at this stage that under Clause IX of the first settlement dated 22nd February 1972 it was mentioned as under IX This agreement shall remain in force upto 31st March 1974 and the Federation agrees not to raise any demand in respect of any of the matters covered by this agreement during the period of the operation of the agreement
It may also be mentioned that in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 79 sub sec
c and k of the Elec tricity Supply Act 1948 the Board after obtaining con currence of the Government of Rajasthan and directives issued under Sec
70A of the said Act and taking into consideration the suggestions made by the representatives of the employees made regulations which are called Rajasthan State Electricity Board Employees emoluments Regulations 1978
These regulations were made applicable retrospectively from 1st April 1974
Under these regulations post of Meter Reader IIMeter Checker I1 was mentioned in scale No 2 as revised in the pay sclae of Rs260 8 324 10 464
Dr LM Singhvi St Advocate appearing on behalf of the Board contended that irrespective of the earlier judg ment given by the High Court in Brij Lal vs RSEB supra quashing the second notification dated 6121972 the present appeals having been filed against the Meter Readers appoint ed on or after 141974 they are not entitled to scale 284 No 3 as the first settlement dated 222
1972 was to remain in force upto 31st March 1974
It was also argued that in the appointment orders of the respondent employees appointed after 141974 it was clearly mentioned that they were appointed as Meter ReaderMeter Checker II in pay scale No 2 ie Rs80 194
Dr Singhvi further argued that the Board had also made regulations which had statutory force and were made applica ble retrospectively from 1st April 1974
Under these regu lations also the post of Meter Reader IIMeter Checker II was mentioned in Scale No 2
It was thus contended that considering the matter from any angle the respondents were not entitled to scale No 3 but were only entitled to scale No 2 as revised from time to time
It was also pointed out by Dr Singhvi that without prejudice to the above submis sions so far as respondents Laxman Lal Sita Ram and Madhay Lal are concerned they were otherwise also not entitled to get any relief in as much as they were appointed Meter Readers II after the notification of the Regulations of 1978
The Regulations were notified vide notification No RSEB
F RRBSD41 dated 4th May 1978 whereas Laxman Lal Sita Ram and Madhay Lal were appointed respectively on 19th August 19788th October 1979 and 9th April 1979
Learned counsel for the respondent employees on the other hand submitted that in the settlement dated February 22 1972 no distinction was made of Meter Reader Gr
I or II and the post of Meter Reader Meter Checker was placed in pay scale No 3
It was submitted that validity of second settlement and the notification dated December 6 1972 was challenged in Brij Lal s case and a Division Bench of the High Court had quashed the aforesaid settlement and the said judgment was not challenged by the Board before this Hon ble Court and the same had become final
Thereafter an arbitra tion award was given in 1979 between the Board and the Federation under which two categories of Meter ReadersMeter Checkers were again made
According to this award Meter ReaderMeter Checker II was placed in the pay scale No 2 of Rs80 194 and Meter ReaderMeter Checker I was placed in the pay scale of No 3 of Rs 126 250
It was thus submitted that all the Meter Readers appointed upto 1979 were entitled to scale No 3
It was further submitted that the first settlement dated February 22 1972 and the notification issued thereafter on March 22 1972 continued to operate and there was only one pay scale of Rs 126 250 for all Meter Readers and there being no classification of Gr
I or II the pay scale of Rs 126 250 remained in force till the arbitration award was given on June 15 1979
It was submit ted that all the respondents having been 285 appointed prior to June 15 1979 they were entitled to pay scale No 3
As regards the stand taken by the Board that it had framed Regulations regarding the fixation of pay scales it was contended that no such plea was taken in reply to the writ petitions filed by the employees
It was pointed out that the contention with regard to the first settlement having come to an end on March 31 1974 as well as the contention raised on the basis of regulations was rightly negatived by the Division Bench of the High Court in the following manner It was contended by the learned counsel for the appellants that the learned Single Judge did not take into considera tion the fact that first settlement came to an end on March 31 1974 and was not in force after that date
He submitted that the Board had powers under Sec
79c and k of the to frame Regulations regard ing the fixation of pay scales
Learned counsel for the appellants was asked to show from the writ petitions whether this point was taken in the writ petitions or not
Learned counsel for the appellants candidly admitted that it was not raised in the writ petitions filed by the petitioners
It was then
put to the learned counsel whether this point was argued before the learned Single Judge
Mr SN Deedwania submitted that in the absence of the affidavit of the coun sel who argued on behalf of the appellants before the learned Single Judge positive assertion to that effect cannot be made
In the memo of appeal this ground of course has been taken but not in the manner in which it has been stated hereinabove
As this point was not taken in the writ peti tions and it was not argued before the learned Single Judge we do not consider it necessary to examine it
We shall examine the validity of the order under appeal on the basis of the grounds that were argued on behalf of the petitioners before the learned Single Judge
It was further contended that during the pendency of these appeals additional affidavit was filed on behalf of Laxman Lal respondent
It was pointed out in the additional affidavit that Sh
Udai Lal and Sh
Shyam Lal were appointed as Meter Readers vide order dated 691974
These persons filed writ petitions Nos
119181 and 118181 respectively
The aforesaid writ petitions were allowed by the High Court vide judgment dated 2831982
One Sh
Prem Shankar who was appointed as Meter Reader vide order dated 165
1974 also filed a writ petition 286 No 12081 in the High Court and it was also allowed by order dated 28th March 1982
The Board did not challenge the aforesaid orders and issued order on 2381982 imple menting the judgment of the High Court
The above examples were given in order to show that these persons were also appointed after 141974 and in their cases also relief was granted by the High Court and the Board never challenged the aforesaid judgments given in favour of Udai Lal Shyam Lal and Prem Shankar
It has also been submitted that the Board has also published a revised revenue manual on 19 1986 in which vide para 124 duties of Meter Readers have been laid down
It is contended that in the manual no dif ferent duties have been prescribed for Meter Reader II and Meter Reader I and thus in the discharge of duties there is no difference
A supplementary affidavit has been filed by Shri RC Harit Deputy Director Rajasthan State Electricity Board
It has been submitted in the supplementary affidavit as under That is so happened that after the aforesaid judgment dated 19th December 1979 in the matter of RSEB vs Jagdish Prasad Brij Lal DB Appeal No 179 of 1979 some other Meter Readers on the basis of this judgment filed various other writ petitions
In these writ petitions the question above the applicability of Regulations or the question as to whether the Respondent can challenge his own appointment by which they were appointed to Meter Reader II post were not at all raised or decided by the High Court
The High Court decided the said writ petitions only on the basis of the earlier judgment in the matter of RSEB vs Jagdish Prasad Brij Lal
The Appellant Board implemented the said order
The respondent is trying to raise the said question which was neither been decided by the High Court and has been raised for the first time in this supplementary affidavit
On account of lapse of time the appellant is finding it difficult to give reply
The Deponent has tried his best to locate the records but in such a short period he could not get the file of the case which was decided about eight years back as it appears to have been mixed up in the old record
That the order passed in the matter of Shanti Lal was a Judgment inter parties and therefore simply because the Board did not challenge the said order it does not mean that the respondent can also take advantage of the same and can raise the question of equal pay for equal work
In this the 287 Appellants further state that all the persons except re spondent Shri Lehar Singh and Gharsi Lal Geharial in civil appeal in the present case were appointed after 7th Septem ber 1974 and 16th May1974 ie the date on which three persons whose matters were decided alongwith Shanti Lal s case were appointed We have thoroughly examined the record and have consid ered the arguments advanced by Learned counsel for the parties
It may be noted that all the above appeals are in respect of such employees who were appointed after 141974
In the appointment orders of all the respondents it was specifically mentioned that they were appointed as Meter Reader Gr
II in the pay scale of Rs 80 194 subsequently revised to Rs 260 464
In Clause ix of the First Settle ment dated 22nd February 1972 it was clearly mentioned that this agreement shall remain in force upto 31st March 1974
The stand taken by the Board all along was that this settle ment was subsequently amended by another agreement Second Settlement on December 2 1972
In this second Settlement certain anomalies and difficulties had cropped up in the course of implementation of earlier settlements and hence some clarifications were made by mutual negotiations
The clarifications relevant for our purpose were that the First Settlement was made effective wef
1st April 1968 instead of 1st April 1969 and two categories were fixed for Meter Readers ie Meter Reader IMeter Checker I and Meter Read er IIMeter Checker II
Necessary amendments were made in the Schedules annexed to the Settlement according to which under pay scale No 3 at Item No 21 Meter Reader I Meter Checker I and under pay scale No 2 at Item No 7 Meter Reader IIMeter Checker II were inserted
This Second Set tlement was subsequently notified by a Notification dated 612
According to the Board this Second Settlement was merely a clarification settlement and not a new settle ment in as much as it sought to make clear the ambiguity which had cropped up in the First Settlement in the matter of fixing the grades and pay scales of the Meter ReadersMeter Checkers
The Notification dated 6121972 which related to the Second Settlement dated 2121972 was challenged by some of the employees by filing writ petitions in the High Court and Learned Single Judge by Judgment dated 21st March 1979 allowed the writ petitions and quashed the notification dated 6th December 1972
It may be noted that the Second Settlement was quashed on the ground that the Second Settlement could not have been made as no concilia tion proceedings were pending before such settlement and the date 141968 mentioned in the Notification was arbitrary and without any 288 basis
An appeal filed by the Board against the aforesaid decision was dismissed by the Division Bench of the High Court on 19th December 1979
This litigation was commenced by such employees who were appointed prior to 6121972
Subsequently employees appointed between the period 1972 1979 filed writ petitions in the High Court
The stand taken by these employees was that the Notification dated 612
1972 had already been quashed by the High Court and as such they were to be governed by the First Settlement dated February 22 1972 in which there was only one category Of Meter ReaderMeter Checker to whom pay scale No 3 had been given and as such they were also entitled to pay scale No 3
The High Court allowed the writ petitions and granted pay scale No 3 to all the 35 petitioners
the Board has now come before this Court against such employees who were appointed after 141974
The contention of the Board is that even if for arguments  sake the earlier decision given by the High Court may be considered as final that was in respect of employees who were appointed before 6th December 1972
As regards the present employees it has been submitted that no benefit can be granted in their case as the First Settlement itself was to remain in force upto 31st March 1974 and in any case in the appointment orders of the re spondents it was clearly mentioned that they were appointed as Meter ReaderMeter Checker Gr
II in the pay scale No 2
It has also been urged before us that the Board had made Rajasthan State Electricity Employees emoluments Regula tions 1978 published on 45
1978 but the same were deemed to have been made applicable from 1st April 1974
Under these regulations post of Meter Reader IIMeter Checker II in pay scale No 2 and Meter Reader IMeter Checker I have been placed in pay scale No 3
Learned counsel for the employees respondents contended that though according to Clause IX of the First Settlement dated 222
1972 it was mentioned that the same will remain in force till 31st March 1974 yet the same would remain in operation until the expiry of two months from the date on which a notice in writing of an intention to terminate the settlement is given by one of the parties to the other party or parties to the settlement as provided under Sub section
2 of Section 19 of the hereinafter referred to as the Act
It has been submitted that no such notice was given by the Board and the Second Settlement dated 212
1972 and Notification dated 612
1972 had already been quashed by the High Court in Brij Lal s case supra and the same having become final the first settle ment Would govern the parties
Reliance in support of the above contention is placed on The Life Insurance Corporation of India vs DJ 289 Bahadur and Ors 1980 Lab
IC Vol
2 1218
Our attention was drawn to para 33 of the above case which reads as under The core question that first fails for consideration is as to whether the settlements of 1974 are still in force
There are three stages or phases with different legal effects in the life of an award or settlement
There is a specific period contractually or statutorily fixed as the period of operation
Thereafter the award or settlement does not become honest but continues to be binding
This is the second chapter of legal efficacy but qualitatively different as we will presently show
Then comes the last phase
If notice of intention to terminate is given under Section 192 or 196 then the third stage opens where the award or the settlement does survive and is in force between the parties as a contract which has superseded the earlier contract and subsists until a new award or negotiated set tlement takes its place
Like Nature Law abhors a vacuum and even on the notice of termination under Sections 192 or 6 the sequence and consequence cannot be just void but a continuance of the earlier terms but with liberty to both sides to raise disputes negotiates settlements or seek a reference and award
Until such a new contract or award replaces the previous one the former settlement or award will regulate the relations between the parties
Such is the understanding of industrial law at least for 30 years as precedents of the High Courts and of this court bear testi mony
To hold to the contrary is to invite industrial chaos by an interpretation of the ID Act whose primary purpose is to obviate such a situation and to provide for industrial peace
To distil from the provisions of Sec 19 a conclusion diametrically opposite of the objective intendment and effect of the Section is an interpretative stultification of the statutory ethos and purpose
Industrial law frowns upon a lawless void and under general law the contract of service created by an award or settlement lives so long as a new lawful contract is brought into being
To argue other wise i to frustrate the rule of law
If law is a means to an end order is society can it commit functional harakiri by leaving a conflict situation to lawless void In our view the above Sections 192 and 196 of the Act cannot give any benefit to the respondents in the fact of the present case
It is not 290 in dispute that the period of the First Settlement was agreed upto 31st March 1974
The question which calls for our consideration is not the applicability of the First Settlement but the real question to be considered is wheth er the Board could have appointed or not the respondents on the post of Meter ReaderMeter Checker Gr
II in pay scale No 2 after 14
The respondentsemployees in the present case want to take advantage of the First Settlement simply on the ground that it did not make any mention of Meter ReaderMeter Checker Gr
I or II and it simply made mention of Meter ReaderMeter Checker to whom pay scale No 3 was given
The above ambiguity was clarified by an agree ment between the Board and the Union representing the em ployees as early as on 212
1972 itself to the effect that Meter ReaderMeter Checker can be placed in two different grades
After this there was no restriction on the Board to make appointment of the Meter ReaderMeter Checker in Grade II after 14
That apart there was clear mention in the appointment orders of the respondents that they were appointed as Meter ReaderMeter Checker Gr
II in pay scale No 2
Learned counsel for the respondentsemployees were unable to place any law Rule or Regulation of the Board to show that the Board had no power to make such appointments of the Meter ReaderMeter Checker in Gr
The Board had already taken the stand the first settlement was clarified by the second settlement and as such even if the High Court had quashed the second settlement it was at least a suffi cient notice within the meaning of Section 192 of the Act that the Board had terminated the first settlement after 313
The Regulations deemed to have come into force from 141974 also clearly provided for pay scale No 2 for Meter ReaderMeter Checker Gr
The Division Bench of the High Court refused to consider the above argument placed on behalf of the Board on the ground that learned counsel for the appellants was asked to show from the writ petitions whether this point was taken in the writ petitions or not and the learned counsel candidly admitted that it was not raised in the writ petitions filed by the petitioners
The High Court further observed in this regard that as this point was not taken in the writ peti tions and it was not argued before the Learned Single Judge they did not consider it necessary to examine it
We have already extracted in extenso the observations of the High Court in this regard in the earlier part of the Judgment
There is a complete fallacy in the above order in as much as the Board was not the petitioner before the High Court and there was no question of taking any such ground in the writ petitions
In one of the above appeals No 2901 of 1985 Rajasthan State Electricity 291 Board  Ors
vs Sharad Chander Nagar reply to the writ petition filed by the Board has been placed on record as Annexure C 
In the said reply in Para 8 it has been stated as under That the contents of Para No 8 of the writ petition are wrong and denied
The petitioner was not appointed at the time of settlement date 2221972
The Wage Board set tlement dated 2221972 which was in force upto 313
1974 and thereafter the Rajasthan State Electricity Board Employ ees Emoluments Regulation 1978 was sic come into force with effect from 141974 and wages of all the employees were revised in pursuance of the Rajasthan State Electricity Board Emoluments Regulation 1978
The copy of the Board Emoluments Regulation 1978 is submitted herewith as Annex ure B
Apart from the above circumstances of the case the Board in its reply to the writ petition also took the stand that the post of the Meter Reader Gr
I is a promotion post while the post of Meter Reader Gr
II is filled by direct recruit ment
The Rajasthan State Electricity Board Emoluments Regulation 1978 made in exercise of the powers conferred by Sec
79 Sub sections c  k of the have Statutory force and it has been clearly mentioned that they shall be deemed to have been made applicable from 1st April 1974
The Board had set up their case in the reply to the writ petition on the basis of these Regulations and it was the duty of the Division Bench of the High Court to have looked into the reply filed by the Board and to decide the effect of such statutory regulations in the present case
The Board under Clause C of Regulation 79 was fully empowered to provide for the duties of officers and other employees of the Board and their salaries allowances and other conditions of service or under the residuary clause k for any other matter arising out of the Board s function under this Act for which it is necessary or expedient to make regulations
We have gone through the regulations which have been brought into force from 1st April 1974 and in Schedule II group B  at Item No 7 Meter Reader IIMeter Checker II has been fixed in the revised pay scale of Rs260 464 original scale Rs80 194 and in group C  at Item No 21 Meter Reader IMeter Checker I in scale No 3 revised pay scale Rs370 570 original scale Rs 126 250
The High Court committed a serious error in ignoring Clause IX of the First Settlement dated 2221972 as well as the Regulations made by the Board in 1978
292 So far as the cases of Udai Lal Shyam Lal and Prem Shankar are concerned even if the Board did not challenge the order of the High Court dated 2831982 in their cases it cannot act as res judicata or as estoppel against the Board in challenging the present order of the High Court before this Court
There is no question of applying the principle of equal pay for equal work in the facts and circumstances of this case and to allow Meter Readers IIMeter Checker Gr
II the pay scale of Meter ReaderMeter Checker Gr
I Apart from that these controversies have been raised by the respondents for the first time by filing affidavits before this Court at the fag end of arguments and these questions being mixed questions of fact and law cannot be permitted to be raised now
In the result we allow all these appeals set aside the Judgment of the High Court and dismiss all the writ peti tions
In the facts and circumstances of the case we direct the parties to bear their own costs
RSS Appeals al lowed


Summary:
By its order dated January 16 1990 in the writ petition the Court had directed respondent No 4 to band over possession of the premises requisitioned under the West Bengal Premises Requisition and Control Temporary Provi sions Act 1947 within nine weeks subject to their obtain ing any order from the High Court or acquiring any independ ent right within that period to retain possession
In the meantime the Land Acquisition West Bengal Amendment Act 1986 which inserted section 49A in the Land Acquisition Act 1894 as applicable to the State came into force on February 14 1990 permitting acqusition of a part of a house
A week thereafter the State Government initiated acquisition process in respect of the said premises
Notifi cations under sections 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act were issued and the Land Acquisition Collector authorised to take possession under section 171 of the Act
However on March 20 1990 in a writ challenging the validity of the acquisi tion proceedings the High Court directed the status quo to be maintained regarding possession
In this contempt petition the petitioner alleged that the respondent had deliberately failed to hand over possession in terms of the order dated January 16 1990
The acquisition was also assailed as being patently bad in law
HELD 1
Before a party can be committed for con tempt then must be a wilful or deliberate disobedience of the orders of the Court In the instant case no such wilful or deliberate or reckless disobedient of the order dated January 16 1990 has been committed by the respondent to the contempt petition
249F 2
The question whether the acquisition is valid or not is pending 247 for decision in the High Court
In case the petitioner succeeds the respondent would have remained in possession of the said premises for a long time after they should have handed over the possession
They are therefore directed to deposit an amount of Rs I0000 per month commencing from 1st October 1990 in the Court in addition to Rs15000 per month they are already paying under the earlier directions
250A C