Case: Bondu Ramaswamy  Vs. Bangalore Development Authority

forming residential layouts: Out of the total acquired area, 30% of the land area can be earmarked for roads and footpaths; and 15% to 10% for parks, open spaces and civic amenities. Out of the remaining 55% to 60% area available for forming plots, the Development Authority can auction 10% area as plots, allot 15% area as plots to urban middle class and allot 15% area as plots to economically weaker sections (at cost or subsidised cost), and release the remaining 15% to 20% area in the form of plots to the land-losers whose lands have been acquired, in lieu of compensation. (The percentages mentioned above are merely illustrative and can vary from scheme to scheme depending upon the local conditions, relevant Bye- laws/Rules, value of the acquired land, the estimated cost of development etc.). Such a model makes the land-loser a stake-holder and direct beneficiary of the acquisition leading to co-operation for the urban development scheme.88. In the preceding para, we have touched upon matters that may be considered to be in the realm of government policy. We have referred to them as acquisition of lands affect the vital rights of farmers and give rise to considerable litigations and agitations. Our suggestions and observations are intended to draw attention of the government and development Authorities to some probable solutions to the vexed problems associated with land acquisition, existence of which can neither be denied nor disputed, and to alleviate the hardships of the land owners. It may be possible for the government and development authorities to come up with better solutions. There is also a need for the Law Commission and the Parliament to revisit the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which is more than a century old. There is also a need to remind Development Authorities that they exist to serve the people and not vice versa. We have come across Development Authorities which resort to `developmental activities by acquiring lands and forming layouts, not with the goal of achieving planned development or provide plots at reasonable costs in well formed layouts, but to provide work to their employees and generate funds for payment of salaries. Any development scheme should be to benefit the society and improve the city, and not to benefit the development authority. Be that as it may.89. When BDA prepares a development Scheme it is required to conduct an initial survey about the availability and suitability of the lands to be acquired. While acquiring 16 villages at a stretch, if in respect of any of the villages, about 30% area of the village is not included in the notification under section 4(1) though available for acquisition, and out of the remaining 70% area which is notified, more than half (that is about 40% of the village area) is deleted when final notification is issued, and the acquisition is only of 30% area which is non-contiguous, it means that there was no proper survey or application of mind when formulating the development scheme or that the deletions were for extraneous or arbitrary reasons. Inclusion of the land of a person in an acquisition notification, is a traumatic experience for the landowner, particularly if he was eking out his livelihood from that land. If large areas are notified and then large extents are to be deleted, it breeds corruption and nepotism among officials. It also creates hostility, mutual distrust and disharmony among the villagers, dividing them on the lines of `those who can influence and get their lands deleted and `those who cannot. Touts and middlemen flaunting political connections flourish, extracting money for getting lands deleted. Why subject a large number to citizens to such traumatic experience? Why not plan properly before embarking upon acquisition process? In this case, out of the four villages included at the final stages of finalising the development scheme, irregularities have been found at least in regard to three villages, thereby emphasising the need for proper planning and survey before embarking upon acquisition.90. Where arbitrary and unexplained deletions and exclusions from acquisition, of large extents of notified lands, render the acquisitions meaningless, or totally unworkable, the court will have no alternative but to quash the entire acquisition. But where many landlosers have accepted the acquisition and received the compensation, and where possession of considerable portions of acquired lands has already been taken, and development activities have been carried out by laying plots and even making provisional or actual allotments, those factors have to be taken note of, while granting relief. The Division Bench has made an effort to protect the interests of all parties, on the fact and circumstances, by issuing detailed directions. But implementation of these directions may lead to further litigations and complications. To salvage the acquisition and to avoid hardships to BDA and its allottees and to avoid prolonged further round litigations emanating from the directions of the High Court, a more equitable way would be to uphold the decision of the division bench, but subject BDAs actions to certain corrective measures by requiring it to re-examine certain aspects and provide an option to the landlosers to secure some additional benefit, as an incentive to accept the acquisition. A direction to provide an option to the land-losers to seek allotment of developed plots in lieu of compensation or to provide for preferential allotment of some plots at the prevailing market price in addition to compensation will meet the ends of justice. Such directions will not be in conflict with the BDA (Allotment of sites) Rules, as they are intended to save the acquisitions. If the acquisitions are to be quashed in entirety by accepting the challenges to the acquisition on the ground of arbitrary deletions and exclusions, there may be no development scheme at all, thereby putting BDA to enormous loss. The directions of the High Court and this Court are warranted by the peculiar facts of the case and are not intended to be general directions applicable to regular acquisitions in accordance with law, without any irregularities. Conclusion

Court's decision (1 = petition accepted / positive for appellant, 0 = rejected / negative): 1

Reasoning from the judgment:
1[ds]On a careful consideration of the aforesaid observations, we are of the view that the said decision does not in any way express any view contrary to the clear enunciation of law in Sundaramier. In Mahendra Lal Jain, this court explained the difference betweenlaws governed by Article 13(1) andlaws which are governed by Article 13(2) and held that anylaw made in contravention of provisions of Part III, to the extent of contravention is a nullity from its inception. Let us now examine whether any provision of the BDA Act violated any provisions of Article 31 in part III of the Constitution. Clause (1) of Article 31 provided that no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law. As we are examining the validity of a law made by the state legislature having competence to make such law, there is no violation of Article 31(1). Clause (2) of Article 31 provided that no law shall authorise acquisition unless it provided for compensation for such acquisition and either fixed the amount of compensation, or specified the principles on which, and the manner in which, the compensation was to be determined and given. BDA Act, does not fix the amount of compensation, but Section 36 thereof clearly provides that the acquisition will be regulated by the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 so far as they are applicable. Thus the principles on which the compensation is to be determined and the manner in which the compensation is to be determined set out in the LA Act, become applicable to acquisitions under BDA Act. Thus there is no violation of Article 31(2). Article 31(3) merely provides that no law providing for acquisition shall have effect unless such law has received the assent of the President. Article 31(3) does not specify any fundamental right, but relates to the procedure for making a law providing for acquisition. As noticed above, it does not nullify any laws, but postpones the enforcement of a law relating to acquisition, until it receives the assent of the President. There is therefore no violation of Part III of the Constitution that can lead to any part of the BDA Act being treated as a nullity. As stated above, the effect of Article 31(3) was that enforcement of the provisions relating to acquisition was not possible/permissible till the assent of the President was received. Therefore, once the requirement of assent disappeared, the provisions relating to acquisition became enforceable.While it is true that BDA is not an elected body like the municipality, it has several elected representatives as members. Section 3 relates to the Constitution of the Authority and provides that the Authority shall consist of 22 members and made up as followsofficers of the BDA viz., The Chairman, The Finance Member, The Engineering Member, The Town Planning Member, The Commissioner and Secretary of the Authority. (All of them areemployees, three of them are specialists in finance, engineering and townelected representatives, that is, two members of state legislature assembly and two counsellors of Bangalore Municipalrepresentative of the state government and four representatives of statutory corporations, that is, the Commissioner of Bangalore Municipal Corporation and representatives of Bangalore Water Supply Sewerage Board, Karnataka Electricity Board, and Karnataka State Road Transportmembers of the public (with minimum of one woman, one person belonging to SC/ST, and one representingArchitect.It would thus be seen that members of the BDA represent different interests and groups, technical persons and elected representatives. Further, no development scheme can be finalised or put into effect without the sanction of the State Government which in turn has to take note of any representation by the Bangalore Municipal Corporation in regard to the development scheme. Therefore, the mere fact that BDA is not wholly elected body as in the case of a municipal corporation will make no difference. The membership pattern is more suited to fulfil the requirements of a specialist agency executing development schemes. We therefore find no merit in the contention that provisions of BDA Act become inoperative, on Parts IX andIXA of the Constitutioncoming into force.28. The BDA Act empowers the Bangalore Development Authority to formulate schemes for the development of Bangalore Metropolitan Area. The word `development refers to building, engineering or other operations in regard to land, that is making layouts and making available plots for allotment to members of the public. It is authorised to acquire lands for execution of development schemes, prepare layouts and construct buildings, provide drainage, water supply and electricity, provide sanitary arrangements, form open spaces, lease, sell or transfer the plots/immovable properties. The area in which the BDA Act operates is totally different from the areas in which Part IX A of the Constitution and KMC Act which relate to local. The appellants contended that the deletion of as much as 1089 acres 12 guntas from out of 3839 acres 12 guntas proposed to be acquired under the preliminary notification would mean that more than 28% was deleted. Several deletions formed islands within the acquired areas. Some of the deletions in some villages were of such a magnitude that what remained of the acquisition in those villages were small and negligible islands completely surrounded by acquired/deleted lands making it difficult or impossible to effectively use such remaining land for development. Such an extensive deletion can lead to the following two inferences: (i) that there was total non application of mind when the proposal was made and without proper survey and by completely ignoring the ground realities about the constructed areas, suitability and availability for acquisition and other relevant circumstances, BDA in extreme haste had proposed acquisition; and/or (ii) the deletion of such vast areas showed that the deletions were arbitrarily made or to favour a chosen few.67. The learned Single Judge after examining the facts held that there were improper inclusions and exclusions which amounted to hostile discrimination. He held that the acquisition of certain lands andor deletion from acquisition of some other similarly situated lands situated in the same area, was arbitrary and discriminatory, violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. He further held that the BDA had failed to furnish any plan showing the details of the lands proposed for acquisition, lands deleted from acquisition, built up areas and the lands originally not included in the acquisition, even though they were in the midst of the acquired lands. The learned Single Judge also noticed that in regard to the deletion of 500 acres, no reasons have been assigned.68. The Division Bench agreed with the single Judge that there were improper inclusions and exclusions amounting to discrimination. The Division Bench was of the view that though the single Judge was justified in holding that there was discrimination in acquiring the land, that alone cannot be a ground for quashing the entire acquisition of 2750 acres. The Division Bench also noticed that the BDA had not traversed the allegations regarding discrimination specifically and even a bare perusal of the map showed that 2750 acres sought to be acquired, did not form a contiguous area. In particular he referred to the haphazard manner in which the acquisition of deletions were made in Kempapura and Srirampura villages. The Division Bench noticed that even in other villages small extents of acquired lands were completely surrounded by large chunks of areas which were either not acquired or deleted from acquisition, making access to such notified land difficult. In the circumstances instead of setting aside the acquisition, in view a memo and the memo filed by the BDA proposing certain remedial measures, the Division Bench decided to give an opportunity to all the landowners (excluding site owners) who had taken the plea of discrimination to file an appropriate application before the BDA for deletion of their lands from acquisition and to substantiate their contention by producing such evidence as was available with them.69. The BDA does not seriously dispute the fact that there were some amount of arbitrariness and discrimination in the matter of inclusions and exclusions. Apart from that we find that even in this court the BDA has not come up with true and correct position. As noticed above the break up of deletions and the reasons for such deletions have not been disclosed. The extent of deletion without explanation has jumped from 589.12 acres to 1089 acres 12 guntas. The BDA has not chosen to explain the exact extent of the government land involved.70. Even the map produced showing the 2750 acres of acquired land and 1089 acres 12 guntas of deleted area contains several discrepancies. For example, in regard to Sampigehalli, the map produced before us shows that the entire extent of the village has been acquired except the village proper (Abadi) and survey Nos.10 and 11. But we find that survey Nos.10 and 11 are not in fact deleted and the declaration shows those survey nos. as acquired. In the same village a perusal of the preliminary notification and final declaration shows that Survey Nos.38/2A, 44/10, 44/11, 44/13, 44/14, 44/15 and 46/4 have been omitted in the final declaration but the plan shows no such omission. On the other hand, it shows the entire village as having been acquired.The acquisition was for planned development of the city and to avoid haphazard growth. But when the layout plan is examined with reference to the preliminary notification and final declaration, several startling facts emerge. We may first refer to the pick and choose method adopted with reference to Kempapura and Sriramapura villages, to which the division bench made specific reference.(i) In Kempapura village, large areas, that is nearly 50% of the area of the village (Sy. No.2, 4 to 16, 23, 24, 30, 31) had not been included in the preliminary notification, even though the entire surrounding area had been notified. Only 55.13 acres were notified in the preliminary notification but the final declaration was only in regard to 26A.38G and the remaining 28A.15G (more than 51% of what was notified) were deleted. After deletion of Sy. No.1, 3, 18(Part) and 33 the entire northern portion (north of the Road bisecting the village) is free from acquisition (except part of Sy. No.17). Even in the southern portion of the village, there are haphazard deletions.(ii) In Srirampura village, quite a few lands (Sy. No.2, 3, 7(Part), 13, 62, 64, 65) were not included in the preliminary notification even though all the surrounding areas had been notified. Further, out of total area of 196A.35G notified in the preliminary notification, only 94A.13G find a place in the final declaration and the remaining 102A.22G (more than 52% of what was notified) were deleted. The acquired lands of 94A.13G are not in a contiguous block, but in eleven odd shaped pockets. The deletions and initial omissions make it impossible to have orderly development in regard to acquisition in this village. Some of the pockets are of such odd shape and size that BDA proposes to leave them as stand alone parks/open spaces/community centres, without any development.73. We find the haphazard and arbitrary exclusions are in several other villages also, though not to the extent in Kempapura and Sriramapura. We may refer to some of them :(i) Venkateshapura is a comparatively small village. All the lands were proposed for acquisition under the preliminary notification (except a block consisting of Sy. No.6, 7 and 8) in all measuring 95A.05G. Virtually the entire southern and western portions of the village have been omitted in the final declaration and only 60A.13G are included in the final declaration. But the entire southern portion of the village (about 30 acres) have been deleted except four small pockets which have not been deleted :(a) Sy. No.30 and 31 measuring 24 Guntas and 25 Guntas in all one acre and nine guntas.(b) Sy. No.33 and 34 measuring 2A.06G and 1A.18G, in all 3A.24G;(c) Sy No.37/2 measuring 2A.10G.(d) Sy. No.19/1 measuring 3A.31G.There is no explanation as to why, when all surrounding lands are deleted these small four pockets are acquired.(ii) In Nagavara and Hennuru villages, the southern portions of the villages were not notified for acquisition. But deletions are haphazard and have left some small pockets of acquired lands. For example, in Nagavara, Sy. No.107 measuring 1A.4G, portion of Sy. No. 7 measuring 21 Guntas, Sy. No.70 measuring 25 Guntas, Sy. No.152 measuring 6A.4G bifurcated by a road form islands of acquired lands. In the entire southern part of Nagavara which runs into hundreds of acres, only part of Sy. No.152 is proposed to be acquired. In Hennuru Sy. No.103 is a small pocket (28 Guntas) which is acquired, is surrounded by lands not acquired/deleted. There are several other islands in Hennuru which are not capable of being developed due to their small extents. Their Survey Numbers are not clear in the map produced.(iii) In Challakere also we find haphazard deletions. We may refer to two stand alone pockets, that is land to the east of Sy. No.104 and the land to the east of 100.What we have referred above is illustrative and not exhaustive. Similar pockets of small extents of acquired lands surrounded by lands which are not acquired/deleted, exist in other villages also.74. The object of establishing a development authority like BDA is to provide for orderly and planned development so that the haphazard growth of a city is checked. The disastrous effects of unauthorised and illegal development by some unscrupulous colonisers/developers are well known. In a planned and authorised standard residential developments, about 30% to 35% of the total area is used to provide broad and adequate roads and footpaths, drains etc., and at least another 10% to 15% of the land is earmarked for parks, playgrounds and community development or civic amenities (schools, hospitals, police stations, post offices, mini markets, community halls etc). Further the layout will have adequate provision for drainage of rain water as well as sewerage water, adequate water supply and electricity, well laid metalled roads which properly connect the layout to Main Roads and other surrounding areas, by providing approaches and linkages. But in an unauthorised or illegal development, the roads are narrow and minimal, virtually no open spaces for parks and playgrounds, and no area earmarked for civic amenities. There will be no proper water supply or drainage; and there will be a mixed use of the area for residential, commercial and industrial purposes converting the entire area into a polluting concrete jungle. The entries and exits from the layouts will be bottlenecks leading to traffic jams. Once such illegal colonies come up with poor infrastructure and amenities, it will not be possible to either rectify and correct the mistakes in planning nor provide any amenities even in future. Residents of such unauthorized layouts are forever be condemned to a life of misery and discomfort. It is to avoid such haphazard, unhealthy development activities by greedy illegal colonisers and ignorantthe State Legislatures provided for City Improvement Trusts and Development Authorities so that they could develop well planned citizen friendly layouts with all amenities and facilities. In this background large tracts of lands running into hundreds of acres are acquired to have integrated layouts. Only when a layout is formed on a large scale, adequate provision can be made for good size parks, playgrounds and community/civil amenities. For example, if a layout is made in 1000 acres of land, the developer can provide a good sized park of twenty acres and one or two small parks of 2 to 5 acres, have playgrounds of 5 to 10 acres. Instead of such an integrated large layout, if 200 small individual layouts are made in areas ranging from 2 to 10 acres, there will obviously be no provision for a park or a playground nor any space for civil amenities. Further small private colonies/layouts will not have well aligned uniform roads and accesses. While it is true that Municipal and Town Planning authorities can by strict monitoring and licensing procedures arrest haphazard development, it is seldom done. That is why formation of small layouts by developers is discouraged and development authorities take up large scale developments. If 200 acres of land on the outskirts of a city, has to be developed, and if 30 to 50 private developers proceed to develop areas ranging from 2 to 15 acres, it will be impossible for them to provide for parks or any playgrounds of reasonable size or make provision for planned civil amenities. Further, there will be no alignment in regard to roads. Each layout will have roads to suit their own convenience and this will lead toand bottlenecks leading to traffic snarls. The width of the roads also will differ from layout to layout depending upon the `greed of each private developer, resulting in the size, shape and alignment of roads varying for every stretch of 200 to 500 meters. There will be no proper drainage of rain water or sewerage water leading to constant flooding or stagnation. Therefore large integrated layouts were found to be the answer for orderly development. No small developer can develop a good township in a few acres of land. It was also thought that developers will be mainly profit motivated and will try to minimise the roads, open spaces and community areas. It is therefore that legislature constituted statutory development authorities to undertake large scale developments without any profit motive.75. If authorities like BDA notify 3000 acres of land for development and then delete from the proposed acquisition several pockets which aggregate to about 1000 to 1500 acres, then the result is obvious. There will be no integrated development at all. What was intended to be a uniform, contiguous and continuous layout of 3000 acres will get split into small pockets which are not connected with the other pockets or will be intersected by own illegal pockets of private colonies thereby perpetuating what was intended to be prevented, that is haphazard growth without proper infrastructure. It will then not be possible to provide proper road connections and drainage and impossible to provide appropriate parks, playgrounds and civic amenities of appropriate and adequate size and situation. When a development authority starts developing pockets of lands measuring 2 acres to 5 acres, obviously it also cannot provide open spaces and civic amenities and may end up with one pocket having plots, another far away pocket having a playground and another far away pocket having a park and their being no uniformity or continuity of roads. As noticed above, a large layout enables formation of long and straight roads for easy movement of traffic. On the other hand, short and disjointed roads affect smooth movement of traffic. Therefore, if a development authority having acquired a large tract of land withdraws or deletes huge chunks, the development by the development authority will resemble haphazard developments by unscrupulous private developers rather than being a planned and orderly development expected from a Development Authority. Therefore when a large layout is being planned, the development authorities should exercise care and caution in deleting large number of pockets/chunks of land in the middle of the proposed layout. There is no point in proposing a planned layout but then deleting various portions of land in the middle merely on the ground that there is a small structure of 100 sq.ft or 200 sq.ft. which may be authorized or unauthorized. Such deletions make a mockery of development. Further such deletions/exclusions encourage corruption and favouritism and bring discontent among those who are not favourably treated.76. The complaint by appellants is that in the proposed Arkavathi layout, rich and powerful with "connections" and "money power" were able to get their lands, (even vacant lands) released, by showing some imaginary structure or by putting up some unauthorised structure overnight. Though we do not propose to go into motives, the concurrent finding by the learned Single Judge and Division Bench is that there are arbitrary unexplained deletions. While we may not comment on policy, it is obvious that deletion from proposed acquisition should be only in regard to areas which are already well developed in a planned manner. Sporadic small unauthorised constructions in unauthorised colonies/ layouts, are not to be deleted as the very purpose of acquisition for planned development is to avoid such unauthorised development. If hardship is the reason for such deletion, the appropriate course is to give preference to the land/plot owners in making allotments and help them to resettle and not to continue the illegal and haphazard pockets merely on the ground that some temporary structure or a dilapidated structure existed therein. A development authority should either provide orderly development or should stay away from development. It cannot act like unscrupulous private developers//colonisers attempting development of small bits of land with only profit motive. When we refer to private developers/colonisers by way of comparison, our intention is not to deprecate all private developers/colonisers. We are aware that several private developers/colonisers provide large, well planned authorized developments, some of which are even better than developments by development authorities. What is discouraged and deprecated is small unauthorized layouts without any basic amenities. Be that as it may.77. What do we say about a `development, where with reference to the total extent of a village,is not notified at all, and more than half is deleted from proposed acquisition of the remainingand only the remaining about 20% to 30% area is acquired, that too not contiguously, but in different parcels and pockets. What can be done with such acquisition? Can it be used for orderly development? Can it avoid haphazard and irregular growth? The power of deletion and withdrawal unless exercised with responsibility and fairly and reasonably, will play havoc with orderly development, will add to haphazard and irregular growth and create discontent among sections of society who were not fortunate to have their lands deleted.78. Learned Single Judge as also the Division Bench have concurrently found that BDA had indulged in pick and choose deletions and acquisitions. The learned Single Judge and the Division Bench have found discrimination and irregularities, both in initial omission of certain lands and in deleting of some lands which were notified. They have also recorded a finding that having regard to the nature of deletions, the acquisition lands do not form a continuous or contiguous area and acquisition of small extents of land surrounded by large chunks oflands and lands which have been omitted from acquisition would make the development of acquired pockets exceedingly difficult.79. The Division Bench was of the view that quashing of the entire acquisition may not the remedy. It, therefore, decided to salvage the situation by issuing a series of directions, whereby the land owners were permitted to apply for deletion of their lands also from acquisition on the ground that (a) the lands were situated within green belt area; (b) the lands were totally built up; (c) the lands had buildings constructed by charitable, educational and/or religious institutions; (d) the lands were used for nurseries; (e) lands where running factories had been set up; and (f) lands were similar to the adjoining lands which were not notified for acquisition. The Court directed that if the BDA comes to the conclusion that the lands of applicants were released are similar to those which have been excluded from acquisition their lands should also be deleted from acquisition. This direction requires clarification.We are conscious of the fact that when a person subjected to blatant discrimination, approaches a court seeking equal treatment, he expects relief similar to what others have been granted. All that he is interested is getting relief for himself, as others. He is not interested in getting the relief illegally granted to others, quashed. Nor is he interested in knowing whether others were granted relief legally or about the distinction between positive equality and negative equality. In fact he will be reluctant to approach courts for quashing the relief granted to others on the ground that it is illegal, as he does not want to incur the wrath of those who have benefited from the wrong action. As a result, in most cases those who benefit by the illegal grants/actions by authorities, get away with the benefit, while others who are not fortunate to have `connections or `money power suffer. But these are not the grounds for courts to enforce negative equality and perpetuate the illegality. The fact that an Authority has extended favours illegally in the case of several persons cannot be a ground for courts to issue a mandamus directing repetition thereof, by applying the principle of equality. Article 14 guarantees equality before law and not equality in subverting law nor equality in securing illegal benefits. But courts cannot be silent bystanders if acquisition process is used by officers of the Authority with ulterior or malafide motives. For example, let us take a case where 2000 acres are required for a project as per the Development Scheme, but the preliminary notification is issued in respect of 3000 acres; and when the land owners `apply or `approach the Authority, 1000 acres of lands are released. Or take a case where a project required 1000 acres of contiguous land for a development project, and preliminary notice is accordingly issued for acquisition of a compact contiguous extent of 1000 acres; but thereafter without any logical explanation or perceivable reason, several large areas in the midst of the proposed layout, are denotified or deleted making it virtually impossible to execute the development scheme, as proposed. In the absence of satisfactory explanations in such a case, it may be necessary to presume that there was misuse or abuse of the acquisition process. Be that as it may.82. We may illustrate the principle relating to positive and negative equality with reference to following notional acquisition cases:(i) Where a petitioners land and his neighbours land are of similar size and have similar structures and are similarly situated, and the policy of the Development Authority is to withdraw the acquisition in respect of lands which are `constructed, if the neighbours land is deleted from the proposed acquisition on the ground that it has a construction of 1000 sq.ft. and the petitioners land is not so deleted, the petitioner will be entitled to relief on the ground of discrimination. But if the neighbours land measures 2000 sq.ft. and contains a house of 1000 sq.ft and the petitioners land measures one acre and contains a house measuring 1000 sq.ft., the petitioner cannot obviously contend that because his neighbours property was deleted from acquisition, being a land with a construction, his one acre land should also be deleted in entirety from the acquisition, as it had a 1000 sq.ft. construction. But it may be possible for him to contend that an extent equal to what was released to his neighbour, should be released.(ii) Where the lands owned by two neighbours are equal in size having similar structures, but one was constructed before the preliminary notification after obtaining a licence and the other was constructed after the preliminary notification unauthorisedly, the owner of the land with the unauthorised structure cannot obviously claim parity with the owner of the land with the authorised structure, for seeking deletion from acquisition.(iii) Where the vacant lands of `A and `Btwo neighbours are acquired. The Authority had a policy to delete properties with constructions, as on the date of preliminary notification. Both put up unauthorised structures clandestinely overnight, after the preliminary notification. The land of `B is deleted from acquisition on the ground that it has a construction. If `A approaches court and claims release of his land claiming parity with `B, the claim will have to be rejected. But, where the Authority admits that Bs land was deleted even though the construction was subsequent to preliminary notification, the court may direct the Authority to take appropriate action in accordance with law for cancelling the deletion.(iv) If in a village all the lands are notified and subsequently all lands except two or three small pockets are deleted without any valid ground, the persons whose lands were acquired can also seek deletion, on the ground that all the surrounding lands have been deleted. Court cannot direct deletion merely because the surrounding lands were deleted, as those deletions were illegal and not based on any valid policy. But the petitioners can contend that the very purpose of acquisition had been rendered infructuous by deletion of the majority of lands from the proposed acquisition, and the project or the scheme has ceased to exist and cannot be executed only with reference to their lands. In such a case, relief can be granted not on the ground that there has been discrimination, but on the ground that the proposed development scheme becameon account of most of the lands being deleted from acquisition.Therefore, a land owner is not entitled to seek deletion of his land from acquisition, merely on the ground that lands of some others have been deleted. He should make out a justifiable cause for deleting his land from acquisition. If the Rules/Scheme/Policy provides for deletion of certain categories of land and if the petitioner falls under those categories, he will be entitled to relief. But if under the Rules or Scheme or policy for deletion, his land is not eligible for deletion, his land cannot be deleted merely on the ground that some other land similarly situated had been deleted (even though that land also did not fall under any category eligible to be deleted), as that would amount to enforcing negative equality. But where large extents of land of others are indiscriminately and arbitrarily deleted, then the court may grant relief, if on account of such deletions, the development scheme for that area has become inexecutable or has resulted in abandonment of the scheme. Alternatively, if a common factor can be identified in respect of other lands which were deleted, and if the petitioners land also has that common factor, relief can be granted on the ground that the Authority had adopted the common factor as the criterion in the case of others and therefore adopting the same yardstick, the land of petitioners also should be deleted. These principles may be kept in view while implementing direction in para 105D(i)(f) of the Judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court.83. It is necessary to refer another aspect of land acquisition for urban development. `Public purposes may be of different degrees of importance/priority/urgency. An acquisition for laying a road or a water supply canal may be of higher priority category when compared to acquisitions for formation of an urban residential layout. Planned urban development by forming residential layouts, is carried out not only by statutory development authorities, but also by private developers/colonisers. The reason why legislature has created Development Authorities for executing development schemes, is because they can undertake large scale developments providing better quality facilities with no profit motives. But in trying to achieve planned development and thereby benefit the urban middle class or urban poor by providing them housing plots, the interests of agriculturists/land owners who lose their livelihood on account of such acquisition, should not be ignored. Though the legislature intended that theshould get reasonable compensation at the time of dispossession or immediately thereafter, it seldom happens in practice.Frequent complaints and grievances in regard to the following five areas, with reference to the prevailing system of acquisitions governed by Land Acquisition Act,1894, requires the urgent attention of the state governments and development authorities:(i) absence of proper or adequate survey and planning before embarking upon acquisition;(ii) indiscriminate use of emergency provisions in section 17 of the LA Act;(iii) notification of areas far larger than what is actually required, for acquisition, and then making arbitrary deletions and withdrawals from the acquisitions;(iv) offer of very low amount as compensation by Land Acquisition Collectors, necessitating references to court in almost all cases;(v) inordinate delay in payment of compensation; and(vi) absence of any rehabilitatory measures.While the plight of project oustees and landlosers affected by acquisition for industries has been frequently highlighted in the media, there has been very little effort to draw attention to the plight of farmers affected by frequent acquisitions for urban development.85. There are several avenues for providing rehabilitation and economic security to landlosers. They can be by way of offering employment, allotment of alternative lands, providing housing or house plots, providing safe investment opportunities for the compensation amount to generate a stable income, or providing a permanent regular income by way of annuities. The nature of benefits to the landlosers can vary depending upon the nature of the acquisition. For this limited purpose, the acquisitions can be conveniently divided into three broad categories:(i) Acquisitions for the benefit of the general public or in national interest. This will include acquisitions for roads, bridges, water supply projects, power projects, defence establishments, residential colonies for rehabilitation of victims of natural calamities.(ii) Acquisitions for economic development and industrial growth. This will include acquisitions for Industrial Layouts/Zones, corporations owned or controlled by the State, expansion of existing industries, and setting up Special Economic Zones.(iii) Acquisitions for planned development of urban areas. This will include acquisitions for formation of residential layouts and construction of apartment Blocks, for allotment to urban middle class and urban poor, rural poor etc.86. In acquisitions falling under the first category, the general public are the direct beneficiaries. In the second category, the beneficiaries are industrial or business houses, though ultimately, there will be indirect benefit to the public by way of generation of employment and overall economic development. In the third category, the beneficiaries are individual members of public who, on account of allotment of plots/flats, will be able to lead a better quality of life by having a shelter with comforts, apart from the fact that the planned development of cities and towns is itself in public interest. At present, irrespective of the purpose, in all cases of acquisition, the landloser gets only monetary compensation. Acquisitions of the first kind, does not normally create any resistance or hostility. But in acquisitions of the second kind, where the beneficiaries of acquisition are industries, business houses or private sector companies and in acquisitions of the third kind where the beneficiaries are private individuals, there is a general feeling among thethat their lands are taken away, to benefit other classes of people; that these amount to robbing Peter to pay Paul; that their lands are given to others for exploitation or enjoyment, while they are denied their land and their source of livelihood. When this grievance and resentment remains unaddressed, it leads to unrest and agitations. The solution is to make thealso the beneficiaries of acquisition so that thedo not feel alienated but welcome the acquisition.87. It is necessary to evolveschemes to suit particular acquisitions, so that they will be smooth, speedy, litigation free and beneficial to all concerned. Proper planning, adequate counselling, and timely mediation with different groups of landlosers, should be resorted. Let us consider the different types of benefits that will make acquisitionsIn acquisitions of the first kind (for benefit of general public or in national interest) the question of providing any benefit other than what is presently provided in the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 may not be feasible. The State should however ensure that the landloser gets reasonable compensation promptly at the time of dispossession, so that he can make alternative arrangements for his rehabilitation and survival.87.2) Where the acquisition is for industrial or business houses (forindustries or special economic zones etc.), the Government should play not only the role of a land acquirer but also the role of the protector of theAs most of the agriculturists/small holders who lose their land, do not have the expertise or the capacity for a negotiated settlement, the state should act as a benevolent trustee and safeguard their interests. The Land Acquisition Collectors should also become Grievance Settlement Authorities. The various alternatives including providing employment, providing equity participation, providing annuity benefits ensuring a regular income for life, providing rehabilitation in the form of housing or new businesses, should be considered and whichever is found feasible or suitable, should be made an integral process of the scheme of such acquisitions. If the government or Development Authorities act merely as facilitators for industrial or business houses, mining companies and developers or colonisers, to acquire large extent of land ignoring the legitimate rights ofit leads to resistance, resentment and hostility towards acquisition process.87.3) Where the acquisition is of the third kind, that is, for urban development (either by formation of housing colonies by Development Authorities or by making bulk allotment to colonisers, developers or housing societies), there is no scope for providing benefits like employment or a share in the equity. But the landlosers can be given a share in the development itself, by making available a reasonable portion of the developed land to the landloser so that he can either use it personally or dispose of a part and retain a part or put it to other beneficial use. We may give by way of an illustration a model scheme for large scale acquisitions for planned urban development by forming residential layouts: Out of the total acquired area, 30% of the land area can be earmarked for roads and footpaths; and 15% to 10% for parks, open spaces and civic amenities. Out of the remaining 55% to 60% area available for forming plots, the Development Authority can auction 10% area as plots, allot 15% area as plots to urban middle class and allot 15% area as plots to economically weaker sections (at cost or subsidised cost), and release the remaining 15% to 20% area in the form of plots to thewhose lands have been acquired, in lieu of compensation. (The percentages mentioned above are merely illustrative and can vary from scheme to scheme depending upon the local conditions, relevant Byelaws/Rules, value of the acquired land, the estimated cost of development etc.). Such a model makes theer and direct beneficiary of the acquisition leading tofor the urban development scheme.88. In the preceding para, we have touched upon matters that may be considered to be in the realm of government policy. We have referred to them as acquisition of lands affect the vital rights of farmers and give rise to considerable litigations and agitations. Our suggestions and observations are intended to draw attention of the government and development Authorities to some probable solutions to the vexed problems associated with land acquisition, existence of which can neither be denied nor disputed, and to alleviate the hardships of the land owners. It may be possible for the government and development authorities to come up with better solutions. There is also a need for the Law Commission and the Parliament to revisit the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which is more than a century old. There is also a need to remind Development Authorities that they exist to serve the people and not vice versa. We have come across Development Authorities which resort to `developmental activities by acquiring lands and forming layouts, not with the goal of achieving planned development or provide plots at reasonable costs in well formed layouts, but to provide work to their employees and generate funds for payment of salaries. Any development scheme should be to benefit the society and improve the city, and not to benefit the development authority. Be that as it may.89. When BDA prepares a development Scheme it is required to conduct an initial survey about the availability and suitability of the lands to be acquired. While acquiring 16 villages at a stretch, if in respect of any of the villages, about 30% area of the village is not included in the notification under section 4(1) though available for acquisition, and out of the remaining 70% area which is notified, more than half (that is about 40% of the village area) is deleted when final notification is issued, and the acquisition is only of 30% area which isit means that there was no proper survey or application of mind when formulating the development scheme or that the deletions were for extraneous or arbitrary reasons. Inclusion of the land of a person in an acquisition notification, is a traumatic experience for the landowner, particularly if he was eking out his livelihood from that land. If large areas are notified and then large extents are to be deleted, it breeds corruption and nepotism among officials. It also creates hostility, mutual distrust and disharmony among the villagers, dividing them on the lines of `those who can influence and get their lands deleted and `those who cannot. Touts and middlemen flaunting political connections flourish, extracting money for getting lands deleted. Why subject a large number to citizens to such traumatic experience? Why not plan properly before embarking upon acquisition process? In this case, out of the four villages included at the final stages of finalising the development scheme, irregularities have been found at least in regard to three villages, thereby emphasising the need for proper planning and survey before embarking upon acquisition.90. Where arbitrary and unexplained deletions and exclusions from acquisition, of large extents of notified lands, render the acquisitions meaningless, or totally unworkable, the court will have no alternative but to quash the entire acquisition. But where many landlosers have accepted the acquisition and received the compensation, and where possession of considerable portions of acquired lands has already been taken, and development activities have been carried out by laying plots and even making provisional or actual allotments, those factors have to be taken note of, while granting relief. The Division Bench has made an effort to protect the interests of all parties, on the fact and circumstances, by issuing detailed directions. But implementation of these directions may lead to further litigations and complications. To salvage the acquisition and to avoid hardships to BDA and its allottees and to avoid prolonged further round litigations emanating from the directions of the High Court, a more equitable way would be to uphold the decision of the division bench, but subject BDAs actions to certain corrective measures by requiring it tocertain aspects and provide an option to the landlosers to secure some additional benefit, as an incentive to accept the acquisition. A direction to provide an option to theto seek allotment of developed plots in lieu of compensation or to provide for preferential allotment of some plots at the prevailing market price in addition to compensation will meet the ends of justice. Such directions will not be in conflict with the BDA (Allotment of sites) Rules, as they are intended to save the acquisitions. If the acquisitions are to be quashed in entirety by accepting the challenges to the acquisition on the ground of arbitrary deletions and exclusions, there may be no development scheme at all, thereby putting BDA to enormous loss. The directions of the High Court and this Court are warranted by the peculiar facts of the case and are not intended to be general directions applicable to regular acquisitions in accordance with law, without any irregularities.