Ritesh Tewari & Anr vs State Of U.P.& Ors

3. One Mawasi, resident of Saraivega Hemlet of village Kakratha, Tehsil and District Agra, had two sons, namely, Sukha and Shyama. Shyama has only one son namely, Rammo. Descendents of Sukha have been Ballo, Radhe Ram, Babu and Sohan Singh. They were having certain land in Gata Nos. 870, 258, 192, 258/2 and 258/5 measuring 9 Bighas 14 Biswas situate in the revenue estate of Village Kakratha Pragana, Tehsil and District Agra. The Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 (hereinafter called `the Act 1976') came into force in the State of Uttar Pradesh with effect from 17th of February, 1976. The aforesaid tenure holders were subjected to the provisions of the aforesaid Act 1976. They had filed their respective declaration as required under the Act 1976, however, the record reveals that ex-parte assessment orders had been passed against all of them under Section 8(4) of the Act 1976 on 30th January, 1981, 31st January, 1981, 30th March, 1981, 8th May, 1981 and 25th May, 1981, declaring an area of land as surplus.

5. The pleadings in this appeal reveal that certain members of Mayur Sahkari Awas Samiti had sold their land to M/s Savy Homes (P) Ltd. who in turn further sold the land to the present appellants vide sale deed dated 15th June, 2006. Appellants further claim to have applied for sanction of plan for construction of buildings and the same was accorded by the statutory authorities under the Municipal Law. Appellants also claim to have developed the land.

6. The Act 1976 was repealed with effect from 18th March, 1999 vide Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Repeal Act, 1999 (hereinafter called the Act 1999). The appellants apprehended that they could be dispossessed by the authorities in view of certain inter-departmental communications contained in letters dated 30th June, 2008 and 18th July, 2008, and thus, preferred Civil Miscellaneous Writ Petition No. 45169 of 2008 before the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad for quashing of the same and for a direction restraining the respondents to interfere with the actual and physical possession of the land of the appellants. The said writ petition has been dismissed by the impugned judgment and order dated 20th January, 2009. Hence, this appeal.

8. On the contrary, Shri S.R. Singh, learned senior counsel appearing for the respondents, has vehemently opposed the appeal contending that once the assessment had been made under Section 8(4) of the Act 1976, against the original tenure holders, the sale in favour of Mayur Sahkari Awas Samiti was void. Further, the transfer in favour of M/s Savy Homes (P) Ltd. and the subsequent transfer in favour of the appellants being consequential remained inexecutable and unenforceable, thus, a nullity. Once an order in inception is bad, it cannot have sanctity at a subsequent stage by other subsequent orders/developments. The original tenure holders are nowhere involved and none of them has been impleaded in these proceedings. No 4 evidence has been placed on record to show that the sale deed in favour of Mayur Sahkari Awas Samiti was genuine. More so, the writ petition was filed for quashing the inter-departmental communications, thus, the writ petition itself was not maintainable. The appellants had never received any show cause notice from the statutory authorities. No proceedings have ever been initiated against them or their predecessors-in- interest. The appeal lacks merit and is liable to be dismissed.

25. The present appeal does not present any special feature warranting exercise of equitable discretionary jurisdiction in favour of the appellants. The equity jurisdiction is exercised to promote honesty and not to frustrate 1 the legitimate rights of the other parties.

31. In the instant case, in spite of all our sincere efforts, we could not succeed in eliciting the true facts.

32. In view of above, we do not find any force in the appeal on merit and it is, accordingly, dismissed. No order as to costs.