Case: The State Of Punjab Vs. Gurdial Singh Etc.Withcivil Miscellaneous Petition No. 6336

Every meritless petition for special leave commits a double sin and here we are scandalized that the sinner is the State itself. When thousands of humble litigants are waiting in the queue hungry for justice and thecourt is desperately wading through the rising flood, every lawless cause brought recklessly before it is a dubious gamble which blocks the better ones from getting speedy remedy. Here is anis a bigassume some of the uncontradicted statements in theand writ petition to be true, read in the light of the High Courts decision against the Government twice over that its action was mala fide and void, this disturbing petition, by the State of Punjab for leave to appeal, which I now dismiss, lays bare t he basics of Power pathology and judicial philosophy in the unhappy setting of personal vendetta fuelling the politics of compulsory land acquisition. Prof. Millers assertion that the Supreme Court "acting as the national conscience of the.. people" does mandate standards towards which public and private behaviour must gravitate is as true in our jurisdiction as in his country.The factual matrix, enough to unfold why the High Court twice condemned the States action in a case of land acquisition as mala fide and why we endorse so that view, must be stated. The order under appeal is brief but there is more than meets the credulous eye beneath the verbal surface available in the affidavits. The vice of misuse of power centred round one Sri Satnam Singh Bajwa, 22nd Respondent, a former minister, a quondom M.L.A., and a continuous politician. The(respondents 1 to 21 before us) seek to crucify him as the malefic presence prodding the impugned acquisition. Since he did not enter appearance, despite service of notice, we felt that a fresh opportunity or reminder should be afforded to him to deny, if he so desired, the sinister imputations made against him. The benefit of presumption of good faith belongs to every man, until rebutted. Fresh notice was directed and effected to the extent feasible but he did not respond and we leave it at that. We proceeded to hear the case after a few adjournments.We must highlight the fact that Sri Har Dev Singh appearing for the State, struck a refreshing note of forensic propriety in dissociating himself from supporting State action if there be any, which, in the courts view was seared with bad faith and argued that, for his part, the officers appear to have exercised power on the advice of the States legal remembrance withoutor affection. Counsel in court are robed representatives, within the parameters of the adversary system, geared to the higher cause of justice, not amoral attorneys paid to ventriloquize the case of the principal. We cannot dismiss truth in paperlogged impatience but must try, with counsels services, to discover the justice of the cause. So we proceed to the facts.Punjab, the pride of the green revolution, is a great agricultural State and, naturally, grain markets are a developmental imperative. The whole litigation is about a piece of land sought to be taken by the State to build a new mandi. Way back in 1962, a site apparently best suited was selected in Qadian and the then Chief Minister, Partap Singh Kairon laid the foundation stone, and a few poles erected there bear witness to this old ceremony. Notification und er Sec. 4 and declaration under Sec. 6 were reportedly issued ten years ago (1969). But the very next year the proceedings were denotified and in 1971 the land of respondents 1 to 21 were notified. In Punjab, a province of peasant prosperity and private ownership, land is held dear even to the point of murder, and tragic factions fester round agriculture. Naturally, the land owners resisted and successfully impeached the acquisition on the ground of mala fides before the High Court. This order of the court, surprisingly enough, proceeded on the admitted mala fides of the State and should have liberated this innocent piece of land from litigative laceration. But, after a long interval, the State chased the same land and rushed through acquisition proceedings a second time invoking emergency powers under Sec. 17 of the Land Acquisition Act. This too was assailed before the High Court on the ground of perversion of State power to satisfy the malefic appetite o f a particular person, not the legitimate statutory purpose. Struck down again by the High Court, the State was chagrinned and, perhaps, encouraged by the fact that the High Court dropped contempt proceedings, the jurisdiction under Art. 136 has been invoked by the Government of Punjab.I have had the benefit of reading my learned brothers concise judgment. The reasons given there have my broad agreement.

Court's reasoning:
We cannot answer but here Satnams influence postponed acquisition proceedings, notwithstanding the ceremonial stone. In 1967, again, elections came and Satnam won on the Congress ticket. But when the Akali Party formed the Government Satnam decided to serve the people as Minister and for that purpose transferred his politics from Congress to Akali. This ensured the safety of the cousins land from the mandi peril. The Akali Government fell in 1969 but he fought as Akali, won the seat and became Forest Minister. The respondents, all the time, resisted him in vain. When Pres idents Rule came, statutory notifications were issued for acquisition of the first site. The mandi project remained frozen till then and showed signs of life during thePresidents Rule, only to be given up in 1970 when Satnam became State Minister of Panchayat and Development. He struck when the iron was hot by constituting a Selection Board and appointing himself President thereof. The choice was made of the site which was allegedly the least suitable. Thus the axe fell on the respondents 1 to 21 and lest thebe delayed, even the S. 5A enquiry was scuttled by invoking the emergency powers under Sec. 17. At times, natural justice is the natural enemy of intolerant authority. Therefore, the judicial process, under Art. 226, invalidated the acquisition on the ground of mala fides. Back as an M.L.A. in 1972 Satnam nurtured the faction politics, and there is reference in the writ petition to a murder and other official interference which do not d irectly concern the case. He was detained and paroled, and the contestants swear that by political influence and use of relationship he revived the same acquisition once quashed by the High Court. We skip many allegations of vice, of pres sure, of defection as drawingacross the trail. But the crux of the matter is that uncontradicted aspersions on Satnam having pressured the political Government to seize the contestants land goes a long way to affirm the High Courts view, in the background of the long chronicle we have set out. The indefensible resort to Sec. 17 is evidence of the length to which the executive would go to come to terms with men wielding political power. No reason exists for us to grant leave in the case where factually the High Court has found improper attempt to take a citizens land. We need not record any positive finding. It is sufficient to state that no ground to grant leave has been made out.The fourth point about the use of emergency power is well taken. Without referring to supportiveit is fundamental that compulsory taking of a mans property is a serious matter and the smaller the man the more serious the matter. Hearing him before depriving him is both reasonable and preemptive of arbitrariness, and denial of this administrative fairness is constitutional anathema except for good reasons. Save in real urgency where public interest does not brook even the minimum time needed t o give a hearing land acquisition authorities should not, having regard to Arts. 14 (and 19), burke an enquiry under Sec. 17 of the Act. Here a slumbering process, pending for years and suddenly exciting itself into immediate forcible taking, makes a travesty of emergency power.