Case: Sri Radhy Shyam through L.Rs. and Ors Vs. State of U.P. and Ors

Upon receipt of proposal from the Development Authority for acquisition of 205.0288 hectares land of village Makora, Pargana Dankaur, Tehsil and District Gautam Budh Nagar, which was approved by the State Government, notification dated 12.3.2008 was issued under Section 4(1) read with Section 17(1) and 17(4) of the Act. The relevant portions of the notification are extractedSub-Section (1) of Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894 (Act no.1 of 1894), the Governor is pleased to notify for general information that the land mentioned in the scheduled below, is needed for public purpose, namely planned industrial development in District Gautam Budh Nagar through Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority.2. The Governor being of the opinion that the provisions of sub-section 1 of Section 17 of the said Act, are applicable to said land inasmuch as the said land is urgently required, for the planned industrial development in District Gautam Budh Nagar through Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority and it is as well necessary to eliminate the delay likely to be caused by an enquiry under Section 5A of the said Act, the Governor is further pleased to direct under sub-section 4 of Section 17 of the said Act that the provisions of Section 5A of the said Act, shall not apply.Since the appellants land was also included in the notification, they made a representation to the Chairman-cum-Chief Executive Officer of the Development Authority (Respondent No.4) with copies to the Chief Minister, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, U.P., the District Magistrate and the Special Officer, Land Acquisition, Gautam Buddh Nagar with the request that their land comprised in Khasra No.394 may not be acquired because they had raised construction 30-35 years ago and were using the property for abadi/habitation. The concerned functionaries/authorities did not pay heed to the request of the appellants and the State Government issued notification dated 19.11.2008 under Section 6 read with Section 9 of the Act.5. The appellants challenged the acquisition of their land on several grounds including the following:(i) That the land cannot be used for industrial purposes because in the draft Master Plan of Greater NOIDA (2021), the same is shown as part of residential zone.(ii) That they had already constructed dwelling houses and as per the policy of the State Government, the residential structures are exempted from acquisition.(iii) That the State Government arbitrarily invoked Section 17(1) read with Section 17(4) of the Act and deprived them of their valuable right to raise objections under Section 5-A.(iv) The acquisition of land is vitiated by arbitrariness, mala fides and violation of Article 14 of the Constitution inasmuch as lands of the Member of Legislative Assembly and other influential persons were left out from acquisition despite the fact that they were not in abadi, but they were not given similar treatment despite the fact that their land was part of abadi and they had constructed dwelling units.6. In support of their challenge to the invoking of Section 17(1) and (4), the appellants made detailed averments in paragraphs 11 and 16 and raised specific grounds A and F, which are extracted below:"11. That as per the scheme of the said Act, each and every section from sections 4 to 17 has an independent role to play though there is an element of interaction between them. Section 5-A, has a very important role to play in the acquisition proceedings and it is mandatory of the part of the government to give hearing to the person interested in the land whose land is sought to be acquired. It is relevant to point out that the acquisition proceedings under the Act, are based on the principal of eminent domain and the only protection given to the person whose land is sought to be acquired is an opportunity under Section 5-A of the Act to convince the enquiring authority that the purpose for which the land is sought to be acquired is in fact is not a public purpose and is only purported to be one in the guise of a public purpose.It is relevant to mention here that excluding the enquiry under Section 5-A can only be an exception where the urgency cannot brook any delay. The enquiry provides an opportunity to the owner of land to convince the authorities concerned that the land in question is not suitable for purpose for which it is sought to be acquired or the same sought to be acquired for the collateral purposes. It is pertinent to mention here that the respondents No. 1 & 2 without the application of mind dispensed with the enquiry on the ground of urgency invoking the power conferred by Section 17 (1) or (2) of the Act. Further, the respondent No. 1 & 2 without application of mind did not considered the survey report of the abadi of the village Makaura where the entire land is being used for the purpose of residence and grazing of cattles in Khasra No. 394. Further, the petitioners were surprised to find that their land have not been included in the Abadi irrespective the same is in use for habitable and keeping the cattle and other uses. The petitioners have constructed their houses and using the same for their residence and keep their cattles and agricultural produce. The survey report clearly shows that the impugned Khasra No. 394 is in use for residence. The report in respect of the land in question falling in Khasra No. 394 given by the respondent No. 4 vide communication dated 26th March, 2007 is annexed as Annexure 6.16. That the said notification under Section 4 of the Act issued by the respondent No. 1 and 2 is without application of mind and there was no urgency in the acquisition of land, for the planned industrial development, as the land, as per the master plan - 2021 the land of the village Makaura is reserved for "residential" of which the respondent No. 2 invoked Section 17 (1) and subsection 4 of the Act by dispensing with an enquiry under Section 5A of the Act. The said action on the part of the respondents are un-warranted and is in gross violation of Article 14,19, 21 and 300A of the constitution. The such illegal act on the part of the respondents show mala fide and their oblique motive to deprive the owners from their houses in order to fulfill their political obligations/promise to the private builders by taking the shelter of section 17 of the Act by dispensing with the enquiry under Section 5-A of the Act as well as overlooked purpose as stipulated in the Master Plan 2021 which is any way do not require any urgent attention.A. That the whole acquisition proceedings are void, unconstitutional, tainted with mala fide, abuse of authority and power, non-application of mind, and as such, liable to be quashed as violative of Articles 14,19 and 300-A of the Constitution of India.F. That the purpose stated in the notification under Section 4 and declaration under section 6 by invoking section 17 is presently non-existent and thus the notification is bad in law. There is no urgency for the invocation when the land is to be acquired for planned development for the purpose of setting residential colony. The impugned notification is without any authority of law and volatile of Article 300-A of the Constitution of India, which limits the power to acquire land to the authority under the Land Acquisition Act. Therefore, the notification in question is bad insupplied)7. The High Court negatived the appellants challenge at the threshold mainly on the ground that the averments contained in the petition were not supported by a proper affidavit. This is evident from the following portions of the impugnedthe petitioners neither have pleaded that there exist no material before the State Government to come to the conclusion that the enquiry under Section 5-A should be dispensed with by invoking Section 17(4) of the Act nor the learned counsel for the petitioners could place before us any such averment in the writ petition. Though, in para-11 of the writ petition, an averment has been made that the respondents no. 1 and 2 without the application of mind dispensed with the enquiry on the ground of urgency invoking the power conferred by Section 17(1) or (2) of the Act, but in the affidavit, the said paragraph has been sworn on the basis of perusal of record. Similarly in para 16 of the writ petition, the only averment contained therein is as under:"16. That the said notification under Section 4 of the Act issued by the respondent No.1 and 2 is without application of mind and there was no urgency in the acquisition of land, for the planned industrial development, as the land, as per the master plan-2021 the land of the village Makaura is reserved for "residential" of which the respondent No.2 invoked Section 17(1) and sub-section 4 of the Act by dispensing with an enquiry under Section 5-A ofThe said action on the part of the respondents are un-warranted and is in gross violation of Article 14,19,21 and 300A of the Constitution. The such illegal act on the part of the respondents show mala fide and their oblique motive to deprive the owners from their houses in order to fulfill their political obligations/ promise to the private builders by taking the shelter of Section 17 of the Act by dispensing with the enquiry under Section 5-A of the Act as well as overlooked purpose as stipulated in the Master Plan 2021 which is any way do not require any urgent attention."However, in the affidavit, this para has not been sworn at all and in any case with respect to dispensation of enquiry under Section 5-A by invoking Section 17(4) of the Act nothing has been said except that the exercise of power is violative of Articles 14,19, 21 and 300-A of the Constitution.We, therefore, do not find any occasion even to call upon the respondents to file a counter affidavit placing on record, the material if any for exercising power under Section 17(1) and (4) of the Act in the absence of any relevant pleading or material and the question of requiring the respondents to produce the original record in this regard also does not arise.The High Court distinguished the judgment of this Court in Om Prakash v. State of U.P. (1998) 6 SCC 1 , albeit without assigning any cogent reason, relied upon the judgments of the Division Benches in Kshama Sahkari Avas Samiti Ltd. v. State of U.P. 2007 (1) AWC 327 , Jasraj Singh v. State of U.P. 2008 (8) ADJ 329 and Jagriti Sahkari Avas Samiti Ltd. Ghaziabad v. State of U.P. 2008 (9) ADJ 43 and held that the decision of the Government to invoke Section 17(1) cannot be subjected to judicial review. The High Court also rejected the appellants plea that in terms of the policy framed by the State Government, the land covered by abadi cannot be acquired by observing that no material has been placed on record to show that the policy framed in 1991 was still continuing. To buttress this conclusion, the High Court relied upon the judgment of this Court in Anand Buttons Limited v. State of Haryana (2005) 9 SCC 164 . 9. By an order dated 29.10.2010, this Court, after taking cognizance of the fact that the respondents did not get opportunity to file reply to the writ petition, directed them to do so. Thereupon, Shri Harnam Singh, Additional District Magistrate (Land Acquisition)/Officer on Special Duty (Land Acquisition) NOIDA, District Gautam Budh Nagar filed counter affidavit on behalf of respondent Nos.1 to 3. In paragraph 10 of his affidavit, Shri Harnam Singh has attempted to justify invoking of the urgency clause by making the followingin invoking the urgency clause the State Government has taken into consideration the following factors:-i) Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority was constituted under the U.P. Industrial Area Development Act, 1976 to promote Industrial and Urban Development in the Area. The acquired land was urgently required by the Development Authority for planned Industrial Development of the area.ii) That the land in the adjoining villages were already acquired by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority. Thus, the acquired land was urgently required for continuity of infrastructure services and planned Industrial Development of the Area. If, the proposed land was not acquired immediately and delay in this regard would lead to encroachments and would adversely affect the Planned Industrial Development of the Area.iii) That the acquired land was required for overall development i.e. construction of roads, laying of sewerages, providing electricity etc. in the area and the said scheme has been duly approved by the state government.iv) That the acquired land consists of 246 plots numbers with 392 recorded tenure holders. If objections are to be invited and hearing be given to such large number of tenure holders, it would take long time to dispose of the objections thereof and would hamper the planned development of the area.v) That reputed industrial houses who are interested in investing in the State and in case the land is not readily available, they might move to other states and such a move would adversely affect the employment opportunities in theHarnam Singh also controverted the appellants plea for exemption by stating that the constructions made by them on land of Khasra Nos.101 and 399 were insignificant and the construction raised on Khasra No.394 is not part of village Abadi.10. Shri Manoj Kumar Singh, Tehsildar filed a separate affidavit on behalf of Respondent No.4 and justified the invoking of urgency clause by asserting that large tracts of land were acquired for industrial development of the district. According to him, as per the policy of industrial development of the State Government, the land is required to be allotted to industrial houses.11. On 8.11.2010, Shri Dinesh Dwivedi learned senior counsel for the State made a request for permission to file additional affidavit with some documents. His request was accepted. Thereafter, the respondents filed an affidavit of Shri Sushil Kumar Chaubey, Tehsildar, Land Acquisition, Gautam Budh Nagar along with eight documents of which seven have been collectively marked as Annexure A-1. The first of the documents marked Annexure A-1 is copy of letter dated 25.2.2008 sent by the Commissioner and Director, Directorate of Land Acquisition, Revenue Board, U.P. to the Special Secretary, Industrial Development on the subject of issuance of notification under Sections 4 and 17 of the Act for acquisition of lands measuring 205.0288 hectares of village Makora. The second document is an undated letter signed by Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Greater Noida, Collector, Gautam Budh Nagar and four other officers/officials. The next document has been described as comments/certificate on the issues raised in Government Order No.5261/77-4-06-251N/06 dated 21.12.2006 with regard to proposal for acquisition of 205.0288 hectares lands in village Makora.This document is accompanied by seven forms containing various particulars. The third document is communication dated 29.10.2007 sent by the Commissioner, Meerut Division, Meerut to the District Magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar conveying the consent of the Divisional Land Utility Committee for the acquisition of lands of five villages including Makora. This letter is accompanied by minutes of the meeting of the Divisional Land Utility Committee held on 29.10.2007. The fifth document is form No.43A-1. The sixth document is communication dated 22.2.2008 sent by Collector, Land Acquisition/Special Land Acquisition Officer, Greater Noida. The last document which forms part of Annexure A-1 is form No.16 showing the list of properties having constructions etc. Annexure A-2 is copy of letter dated 31.10.2008 sent by the Director, Directorate of Land Acquisition to the Special Secretary, Industrial Development.

Court's reasoning:
acquisition is primarily meant to cater private interest in the name of industrial development of the district. It is neither the pleaded case of the respondents nor any evidence has been produced before the Court to show that the State Government and/or agencies/instrumentalities of the State are intending to establish industrial units on the acquired land either by itself or through its agencies/instrumentalities. The respondents have justified the invoking of urgency provisions by making assertions, which are usually made in such cases by the executive authorities i.e. the inflow of funds in the State in the form of investment by private entrepreneurs and availability of larger employment opportunities to the people of the area. However, we do not find any plausible reason to accept this tailor-made justification for approving the impugned action which has resulted in depriving the appellants of their constitutional right to property. Even if planned industrial development of the district is treated as public purpose within the meaning of Section 4, there was no urgency which could justify the exercise of power by the State Government under Section 17(1) and 17(4). The objective of industrial development of an area cannot be achieved by pressing some buttons on computer screen. It needs lot of deliberations and planning keeping in view various scientific and technical parameters and environmental concerns. The private entrepreneurs, who are desirous of making investment in the State, take their own time in setting up the industrial units. Usually, the State Government and its agencies/instrumentalities would give them two to three years to put up their factories, establishments etc. Therefore, time required for ensuring compliance of the provisions contained in Section 5-A cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be portrayed as delay which will frustrate the purpose of acquisition. In this context, it is apposite to note that the time limit for filing objection under Section 5-A (1) is only 30 days from the date of publication of the notification under Section 4(1). Of course, in terms of sub-section (2), the Collector is required to give opportunity of hearing to the objector and submit report to the Government after making such further inquiry, as he thinks necessary. This procedure is likely to consume some time, but as has been well said, "Principles of natural justice are to some minds burdensome but this price-a small price indeed-has to be paid if we desire a society governed by the rule ofacquisition of their land is vitiated due to violation of the doctrine of equality enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution. A reading of the survey report shows that the committee constituted by the State Government had recommended release of land measuring 18.9725 hectares. Many parcels of land were released from acquisition because the land owners had already raised constructions and were using the same as dwelling units. A large chunk of land measuring 4.3840 hectares was not acquired apparently because the same belong to an ex-member of the legislative assembly. The appellants had also raised constructions on their land and were using the same for residential and agricultural purposes. Why their land was not left out from acquisition has not been explained in the counter affidavit filed by the respondents. The High Court should have treated this as sufficient for recording a finding that the respondents had adopted the policy of pick and choose in acquiring some parcels of land and this amounted to violation of Article 14 of the Constitution. Indeed it has not been pleaded by the respondents that the appellants cannot invoke the doctrine of equality because the other parcels of land were illegally left out from acquisition.