CWP No. 10748 of 2008(O&M) 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. CWP No. 10748 of 2008 (O&M) Date of decision 27 .1.2010 Roshan Lal ... Petitioner Versus The State of Punjab and others ... Respondents. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE M.M. KUMAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AJAY TEWARI Present: Mr.R.K.Chopra, Sr. Advocate with Ms. Maninder ,Advocate for the petitioner Mr. Suvir Sehgal, Addl. AG Pb. for respondent no.1 Mr. G.S.Sandhawalia, Advocate for respondent no.2. 1.To be referred to the Reporter or not ? 2.Whether the judgement should be reported in the Digest ? M.M.KUMAR, J. The petitioner has approached this Court with a prayer for quashing notification dated 2.9.2005 (P.1) issued under Section 36 of the Punjab Town Improvement Trust Act, 1922 (for brevity 'the Trust Act') which is equivalent to Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for brevity 'the Act') and further notification dated 18.5.2008 (P.5) issued under Section 42 of the Trust Act on the ground that it is contrary to the Standing Order No. 28 dated 13.3.2000 (P.6). It has remained undisputed that after issuance of notification under Section 36 of the Trust Act in the year 2005 the petitioner was again given notice under Section 38 and he filed objections on 26.9.2005 (P.2). There is a reference to the civil suit also which was withdrawn after the filing of the writ petition. It is alleged that notice under Section 9 was issued on 5.9.2008 and award was announced on 13.6.2008 and the possession has been taken. CWP No. 10748 of 2008(O&M) 2 In order to substantiate his principal ground, the petitioner has averred in para 5 of the petition that huge government land is available within the periphery of the Faridkot town which could be utilised for development purposes, which land is in front of the land of the petitioner. It is also mentioned that once the government land is available then land of the private land owners shall not be acquired. In that regard primary reliance has been placed on Standing Order No.28 dated 13.3.2006 (P.6). In the reply filed by the respondents, the averments made in para 5 of the petition have been denied by stating that the land which is allegedly belong to the government is not available. In para 5 of the reply it has been specifically stated that land measuring 135 kanals 8 marlas to which reference has been made by the petitioner is occupied by a garden and a tube-well is being installed for supplying water to the city of Faridkot. By referring to the site plan (R/2-8) it has been clarified that the land in question is not situated on the main road and the same could not be developed for the desired purpose. The land situated opposite to the land of the petitioner does not belong to the government or the Improvement Trust which infact is a land of private Trust. It has further been pointed out with regard to the other land as under: “i)That the land measuring 19 kanals 7 marlas is a very small pocket of land and no residential colony can be constructed in that area and neither is there any appropriate road to the said land which has litigation pending in the Court of Sh. A.K.Singla, Addl. District Judge. ii)That the land mentioned in this para is in possession of the Research Centre of the Punjab Agricultural University, CWP No. 10748 of 2008(O&M) 3 Ludhiana and is being used for the research work for the farmers of Punjab by the University and even otherwise, has no proper approach road and the said land cannot be diverted for the purpose of a development scheme. (iii) &(iv) That the site mentioned in these paras are in the ownership of the Punjab Urban Development Authority which itself is a development agency and as per the site plan itself, the said site is not suitable for developing the same for residential -cum- commercial purposes.” We have heard the learned counsel for the parties at some length and find that the writ petition lacks merits and is thus liable to be dismissed. Firstly, violation of Standing Order 28 dated 13.3.2006 (P.6) itself may not constitute a valid reason for quashing the acquisition proceedings. In any case, the respondents have categorically denied availability of any land for the purposes of development/ extension scheme. There is a specific denial by the respondents that government land measuring 135 kanals 8 marlas is available but is occupied by a garden and a tube-well is being installed for supply of water to the city of Faridkot. The land opposite the land of the petitioner belongs to a private trust known as Maharawal Khewa Ji Trust, as per jamabandi for the year 2004-05. With regard to the other land also explanation has been furnished. One piece of land i.e. 19 kanals 6 marlas is found to be very small where no residential colony could be constructed nor there is any appropriate road to access the aforesaid land. Moreover some litigation is pending in the Court of Shri A.K.Singla, Addl. District Judge. Another piece of land belonging to the government is in possession of Research Centre of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. It is also CWP No. 10748 of 2008(O&M) 4 stated that the aforesaid land is under the ownership of Punjab Urban Development Authority which itself is a development authority. Therefore, we do not find any violation of the mandatory provisions of the Trust Act or any other law. We specifically asked the learned counsel for the Trust as to whether the amount of compensation has been deposited to which categorical reply was that over Rs. 1,67,00,000/- was deposited as per the requirement of the award. As a sequel to the above discussion, this petition fails and the same is dismissed. (M.M.Kumar) Judge (Ajay Tewari) 27.1.2010 Judge okg