IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.195 of 2010 M/S VIKRAMSHILA ENGICON PVT.LTD. HAVING ITS REGISTERED OFFICE AT INDRAPURI, P.O-KESHRI NAGAR, PATNA-24, THROUGH ITS DIRETOR, NAMELY RAJ KUMAR YADAV S/O LATE ABHINANDAN PRASAD YADAV R/O SHIV MANDIR GALI, INDRAPURI, P.S- RAJEEV NAGAR, DISTT- PATNA. VERSUS 1. THE STATE OF BIHAR THROUGH THE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT COMMISSIONER, GOVT.OF BIHAR, 2. THE BIHAR INDUSTRIAL AREA DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, PATNA THROUGH ITS CHAIRMAN 3. MANAGING DIRECTOR, BIHAR INDUSTRIAL AREA DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, PATNA 4. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BIHAR INDUSTRIAL AREA DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, REGIONAL OFFICE, BHAGALPUR ----------- 02 22.03.2010 The petitioner states that since allotment of the said industrial plot and transfer to him, he has taken various steps to establish the cold storage for which he had taken the land. He applied in the year 2007 itself for certificate to be granted by the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA), which was granted in the end of 2008. He then sought for a licence from the department of horticulture, which is required under the Cold Storage Act, which was granted in the year 2009. He has now got the construction plan passed and earth filling up work up to plinth level has been taken up. Without considering these aspects, merely because the entire construction activities were not completed within two years, the allotment and the registered lease, leasing the plot to the petitioner for 67 years, has been cancelled by an executive order. No notice was served before such cancellation order was issued. - 2 - In the counter affidavit, which has been filed today, it is stated that notices were issued to the petitioner in the year 2008, and the matter was considered in the year 2009. In my view, those are stale proceedings. In any view of the matter, the petitioner having taken these effective steps to set up the industry and the petitioner making a categorical statement that he may be in a position to commission by beginning of next potato season, that is, in the end of December, I think that such a drastic action was not required to be taken. Power to cancel the allotment, no doubt, can be exercised by the authorities in certain circumstances but where a party has taken up steps to establish a cold storage, then merely because he has delayed in setting up the industry, he should not be visited with such action. Thus, the order of cancellation of allotment, for which a registered lease has already been executed, cannot be sustained and that too by mere executive action. The impugned actions of BIADA are, thus, set aside. The BIADA would have an option to call upon the petitioner to live up his undertaking to establish the cold storage, barring unforeseen circumstances, by end of this year. With these observations and directions, the writ petition is disposed of. Trivedi (Navaniti Prasad Singh, J.)