Case: Madhukar Sadbha Shivarkar (D) By Lrs Vs. State Of Maharashtra &amp; Ors

3. For the sake of brevity, the relevant brief resume of facts and legal contentions urged on behalf of the parties in C.A. @ SLP(c) No. 9710 of 2007 are stated in this judgment with a view to find out as to whether this Court is required to exercise its appellate jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution of India to interfere with the impugned judgment and order of the High Court and the orders passed by the Maharashtra State Government impugned in the writ petitions.The Saswad Mali Sugar Factory Ltd., Malinagar, District Solapur is a Company registered some time in the yearunder the provisions of the Indian Companies Act 1956. The Company purchasedacres of perennially irrigated land at Akluj, Bijwadi, Tambave and Mahalung Villages in Malshiras Taluka. During the said period, the Company took 5000 acres of land on lease from the various land owners in the said villages and thereafter, createdin favour of its share holders. 125were created and land was allotted to shareholders by the Company betweenacres in favour of each one of the share holders and such holdings of land continued till 26.01.1962, when the said Act came into force. As per the provisions of the Act, an individual was only allowed to hold 18 acres of irrigated land. Thedate for determining land holding under the Act was 04.08.1959. It is the case of the State Government that the share holders of the Company fearing loss of their land holdings in collusion with the revenue authorities manipulated the revenue records of the land involved in the proceedings with a mala fide intention to show that besides the holdings of land by the Company, there were 384of the land altogether. It is its further case that lavanchitthis for the period62 were destroyed and false revenue records were created to substantiate the holding of 384in respect of the land which was in the name of the Company.4. In the year 1964, the original landowners from whom land was taken by the Company realized the fraud played by the Company and its share holders upon the Revenue authorities of the Act and filed a complaint with the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) challenging the manipulation of revenue records by the Company of its shares in collusion with the Revenue Officers to investigate into the fabricated records.After the aforesaid Act came into force, the land ceiling proceedings of the land holdings of the share holders of the Company and the allegedtook place and it was held by the Tahsildar under the Act, that everybody held the land within the ceiling limit and the said decision was appealed and attained finality in the year 1977, as the appeals filed against the orders passed in the land appeals were also dismissed.5. In the year 1974, the ACB obtained permission from the Maharashtra State Government to investigate into the alleged offences punishable under Sections 466, 468, 471, 477A, 120B and 109 of the IPC, which were registered after investigation of the case by the said Bureau against the share holders of the Company and others. The said criminal cases were tried by the Special Judge, Solapur against the accused persons in special case Nos. 2, 5 to 7 of 1975. The accused persons, namely, the share holders were convicted for different offences and accordingly, sentenced them to undergo imprisonment for the period mentioned in the judgment and order of the Special Judge. Aggrieved by the aforesaid judgment and order of the Special Judge, the accused persons preferred criminal appeals before the High Court which passed judgments and orders dated 6.2.1985, 2.4.1985, 20.4.1985 and 23.4.1985 respectively dismissing the said appeals. The accused persons preferred special leave petitions before this Court which were also dismissed in the year 1985.6. The State Government forwarded the aforesaid judgment and order of the Special Judge in criminal cases to the District Collector asking him to conduct enquiry and determine the surplus land involved in the cases. In view of the aforesaid conviction and the order of sentence passed by the Special Judge and confirmed by the High Court and this Court, the State Government in exercise of its power under Section 14(4) of the Act vide order dated 27.9.1991 designated the Asstt. Commissioner, Pune Division as Enquiry Officer to make an enquiry pertaining to the list of bogus land holders.7. Some of the appellants in the connected appeals who are purchasers of the land from the Companys share holders who were accused and persons who were acquitted in the criminal case, and some of the appellants who were not the accused in the criminal case, had also filed the writ petitions before the High Court questioning the correctness of the order passed by the State Government under the aforesaid provisions of the Act appointing the Enquiry Officer to conduct enquiry pertaining to the list of bogus land holders mentioned in the impugned order.

Reasoning: 22. For the reasons stated supra we do not want to go into the merits of the case. Apart from the said reasons, we have very carefully scrutinized the impugned common judgment and order of the High Court and the orders of the State Government and we do not find any reason whatsoever to interfere with the same as none of the legal contentions urged on behalf of the appellants have got any merit consideration. In our considered view, the orders impugned in the writ petitions which are affirmed by the High Court, are perfectly legal and valid and therefore, the same do not warrant interference by this Court in exercise of power of this Court under Article 136 of the Constitution, but on the other hand, the aforesaid orders of the State Government can also be traceable to executive power of the State Government under Article 162 of the Constitution of India having regard to the magnitude of the alleged fraud in relation to the vast extent of the land holding obtained by the declarants by giving false declarations with a view to come out from the clutches of the land ceiling provisions of the Act, which is the prima facie view taken by the State Government and the same cannot be found fault with by this Court in these proceedings at this stage.23. It is noticed by this Court that right from the year 1989, the orders passed by the State Government have been successfully stalled by the appellants to conduct the administrative enquiry into the matter for the last quarter century, the most valuable period is lost in the process of untenable litigation made by the appellants. Therefore, we direct the State Government and the Enquiry Officer appointed for the purpose or if the said Officer has already retired, then the Deputy Commissioner of the Pune Division who is in office at present is required to expedite the administrative enquiry within six months as directed by the High Court in its operative portion of the order or any officer can be appointed by the State Government in his place within two weeks from the date of receipt of this order and submit compliance report to this Court for its perusal and further direct the State Government to proceed with the matter in accordance with law after affording opportunity to all the parties.The purpose of the orders issued by the State Government is to conduct the administrative enquiry by the Enquiry Officer appointed by it in relation to the revenue records of the land in question, which are fabricated after destroying the original revenue records, with a view to make unlawful enrichment by the declarants and therefore the same has to be examined by the Enquiry Officer after going through the correctness of the entries in the relevant revenue records pertaining to the land with reference to the provisions of Land Revenue Code and he can find out the modus operandi adopted by the share holders of the Company in creatingin respect of the land in favour of 384 persons to overcome the ceiling provisions of the Act, so as not to get their land holdings declared as surplus by creating the alleged fictitious entries in the revenue records without following provisions of the Land Revenue Code and destroying the original revenue records. The same cannot be objected to by the appellants, at this stage as their rights are not affected and it is premature to examine their claims as has been urged in the proceedings and there are no civil consequences upon them.15. The other untenable contention urged on behalf of the appellants that the appellants have not been heard before passing the impugned order by the High Court and their statutory right and fundamental rights acquired upon the lands in question are deprived, is wholly imaginary and there is no merit in thisview of the law laid down by this Court in the above case, this Court need not exercise its appellate jurisdiction in a matter of this nature as no adverse order are passed by the State Government against the appellants at this stage, and it is only stated in the impugned order that enquiry will be conducted by the Deputy Commissioner of Pune Division in respect of the land holding of thecareful perusal of the judgment passed in the criminal appeals, we noticed that some of the appellants were convicted and sentenced for the offences punishable under Sections 466, 468, 471, 477A, 120B and 109 of the IPC, in relation to the offences committed by them in respect of the land holdings. In the backdrop of the judgment passed in the criminal cases referred to supra which have attained finality before this Court, the State Government, after examining the representations given by the land owners in these cases with reference to the relevant land records of the land holders of the villages, has rightly exercised its statutory power by appointing theOfficer as an Enquiry Officer at the first instance and later on Deputy Commissioner of Pune was appointed to enquire into the matter which is in the larger public interest.The legal submissions made by the learned senior counsel on behalf of the appellants that the State Government has no power either under Section 45(2) or under Section 14 (4) of the Act to appoint an Enquiry Officer to enquire into the land holdings of the villages referred to therein are untenable contentions of the appellants which have been rightly rebutted by the learned senior counsel Mr. Shekhar Naphade by urging an alternative legal plea that the power exercised by the State Government to pass the orders impugned in the writ petitions is traceable to its executive power under Article 162 of the Constitution of India.