Case: Ramji Veerji Patel &amp; Others Vs. Revenue Divisional Officer &amp; Others

Government and a co-operative society within the meaning of any law relating to co-operative societies for the time being in force in any State, being a co-operative society in which not less than fifty-one per centum of the paid-up share capital is held by the Central Government, or by any State Government or Governments or partly by the Central Government and partly by one or more State Governments;" 27. That Corporation and the TNSTC fall within the definition of Section 3(cc) is not in dispute. Both may not have been divested of their character as a government company but sub-clause (i) of Section 3(e) excludes a government company from the definition of company. Part VII (Sections 38 to 44B) of the Act provides for acquisition of land for companies. In view of the definition of the `company in Section 3(e) which excludes government company, the Corporation or for that matter its successor TNSTC does not fall within the definition of the `company and, therefore, is not covered by Part VII of the Act at all.28. In Raja Ram4, the definition of `company in Section 3 (e) of the Act prior to its substitution fell for consideration. The definition of `company under consideration read as follows : "the expression "company" means a company registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1890 or under the (English) Companies Acts, 1862 to 1882 or incorporated by an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom or by an Indian law, or by Royal Charter or Letters Patent and includes a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, an a registered society within the meaning of the Cooperative Societies Act, 1912, or any other law relating to cooperative societies for the time being in force in any State." 29. It was in the context of the above definition that this Court held in Raj Ram4 that the Food Corporation of India was not divested of its character as a company within the meaning of definition of clause (e) of Section 3 of the Act. As noticed above, the definition of `company has undergone complete change and the government company has been expressly excluded from the expression `company for the purposes of the Act. 30. For the above reasons, it has to be held that Part VII of the Act has no application to the present case as the acquisition of land is not for a `company as defined in Section 3(e). 31. Mr. Pallav Shishodia, learned senior counsel also urged that the appellants are migrants from Gujarat. They have settled in Chidambaram about thirty years back and the livelihood of the entire family of the appellants which comprised of about 40 members is dependant on the saw mill existing on the subject land. Having regard to these facts, he would submit that we invoke our jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution and declare the acquisition of the appellants land bad in law to do complete justice. There is no doubt that by compulsory acquisition of their land, the appellants have been put to hardship. As a matter of fact, the RDO was alive to this problem. In his report dated September 14, 1989, the RDO did observe that the land owners have spent considerable money to raise the level of the land for constructing compound wall and running saw mill. He was, however, of the opinion that the appellants land was very suitable for the expansion of the depot and the suitable compensation can be paid to the land-owners to enable them to purchase an alternative land. The appellants, however, proceeded to challenge the acquisition. The litigation has traversed upto this Court and taken about 22 years. The public purpose has been stalled for more than two decades. Being the Highest Court, an extraordinary power has been conferred on this Court under Article 142 to pass any decree, order or direction in the matter to do complete justice between the parties. The power is plenary in nature and not inhibited by constraints or limitations. However, the power under Article 142 is not exercised routinely. It is rather exercised sparingly and very rarely. In the name of justice to the appellants, under Article 142, nothing should be done that would result in frustrating the acquisition of land which has been completed long back by following the procedure under the Act and after giving full opportunity to the appellants under Section 5-A. The possession of the land has also been taken as far back as on July 25, 2001. The appellants made an application (I.A. No. 2 of 2002) for direction to the respondents not to interfere with the functioning of the saw mill and permit them to use the saw mill but this Court in its order dated May 8, 2002 only said that the saw mill shall not be demolished till further orders. No permission was granted to the appellants to use the saw mill. In other words, for more than ten years the saw mill is closed after possession was taken over from the appellants. In the circumstances, this is not a case fit for exercise of power under Article 142 and declare the acquisition of the appellants land bad although the acquisition proceedings have been completed in accordance with law. 32. Lastly, the learned senior counsel invited our attention to the application (I.A. No. 4) wherein the appellants offered for amicable settlement by expressing their readiness and willingness to give an area of land admeasuring 13250 square feet out of the total land of 1.45 acres (i.e. 1 acre and 19445 sq. ft.) free of cost to the Corporation. The offer is not acceptable to Mr. B. Balaji. He submitted that such a small area is of no use for expansion of the existing depot. We do not find any unreasonableness in the submission of the counsel that an area of 13250 square feet would not meet the purpose for which the appellants land has been acquired. 33. In view of the above,

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 0

Explanation:
0[ds]That Corporation and the TNSTC fall within the definition of Section 3(cc) is not in dispute. Both may not have been divested of their character as a government company but sub-clause (i) of Section 3(e) excludes a government company from the definition of company. Part VII (Sections 38 to 44B) of the Act provides for acquisition of land for companies. In view of the definition of the `company in Section 3(e) which excludes government company, the Corporation or for that matter its successor TNSTC does not fall within the definition of the `company and, therefore, is not covered by Part VII of the Act at all.28. In Raja Ram4, the definition of `company in Section 3 (e) of the Act prior to its substitution fell for consideration. The definition of `company under consideration read as followsexpression "company" means a company registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1890 or under the (English) Companies Acts, 1862 to 1882 or incorporated by an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom or by an Indian law, or by Royal Charter or Letters Patent and includes a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, an a registered society within the meaning of the Cooperative Societies Act, 1912, or any other law relating to cooperative societies for the time being in force in any State.It was in the context of the above definition that this Court held in Raj Ram4 that the Food Corporation of India was not divested of its character as a company within the meaning of definition of clause (e) of Section 3 of the Act. As noticed above, the definition of `company has undergone complete change and the government company has been expressly excluded from the expression `company for the purposes of the Act.