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TMI Blog2002 (12) TMI 563X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mongst others are the owners. On or about 3.3.1986 a development plan was finally published in terms of the provisions of the said Act, and the period of 10 years therefrom lapsed on 2.3.1996. A revised Development plan however came into being on 20th February, 1996. It is not in dispute that respondents who claim ownership of the lands in question issued notices in terms of sub-section 2 of Section 20 of the said Act, asking the State Government to acquire the properties in terms thereof. The short question which arises for consideration in these matters is as to whether by reason of inaction on the part of the State and its authorities under the Town Planning Act to acquire the lands for a period of more than 10 years, in terms of the provisions of section 20 of the Act and on their failure to do so the reservation/designation in respect of land in question would lapse. Per contra the contention of the Appellant was that the provisions of Section 20(2) of the Act although enables service of notice by land owners for acquisition within six moths from the expiry of 10 years from the date of final development plan but the same would not come into operation when the final developm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Section 21 of the Act must be given a proper meaning and thus in the event the interpretation of the provisions put-forth by the learned counsel for the appellant is accepted, the same will lead to an anomalous and absurd situation; which was not contemplated by the Legislature. Reliance in this connection has been placed in The Land Acquisition Officer, City Improvement Trust Board v. H. Narayanaiah & Ors. [(1976) 4 SCC 9]. Before we advert to the rival contentions, as noticed hereinbefore, we may look to the relevant provision of the said Act. The preamble suggests that the said Act was enacted to consolidate and amend the law relating to making and execution of development plans and town planning schemes in the State of Gujarat. It is not in dispute that the said Act came into force with effect from 1.2.1978 in terms of an appropriate notification issued in this behalf under sub-section (3) of Section 1 thereof. Section 2 of the said Act contains definition clause. 'Development Plan' has been defined in Section 2(x) to mean a plan for development or redevelopment or improvement of a development area. Section 3, postulates issuance of a notification by the State Government ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t, including their extension and development. (e) xxxx (f) reservation of land for community facilities and services; (g) xxxx (h) xxxx (i) xxxx (j) xxxx (k) proposals for the reservation of land for the purpose of Union, any State, local authority or any other authority or body established by or under any law for the time being in force; (l) xxxx (m) xxxx (n) provision for preventing or removing pollution of water or air caused by the discharge of waste or other means as a result of the use of land; (o) such other proposals for public or other purposes as may from time to time be approved by the area development authority or as may be directed by the State Government in this behalf." Section 13 specifies publication of draft development plan for the purpose of inviting suggestions and objections from public and affected parties, which are required to be considered in terms of Section 14 thereof. Necessary modifications may be made therein as provided under Section 15. A modified draft plan prepared in terms of Section 15 is required to be submitted to the State Government for sanction, which in exercise of it power under Section 17 of the Act may grant the same with fu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. (2) If the land referred to in sub-section (1) is not acquired by agreement within a period of ten years from the date of the coming into force of the final development plan or if proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, are not commenced within such period, the owner or any person interested in the land may serve a notice on the authority concerned requiring it to acquire the land and if within six months from the date of service of such notice the land is not acquired or no steps are commenced for its acquisition, the designation of land as aforesaid shall be deemed to have lapsed." Section 21 of the Act provides for the revision of development plan and reads as under:- "Section 21. Revision of development plan: At least once in ten years from the date on which a final development plan comes into force, the area development authority shall revise the development plan after carrying out, if necessary, a fresh survey and the provisions of Sections 9 to 20, shall, so far as may be, apply to such revision." It is the basic principle of construction of statute that the same should be read as a whole, then chapter by chap ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... g rights. An Act should be so interpreted as in no respect to interfere with or prejudice a clear private right or title unless that, private right or title is taken away per directum" By reason of the provision of the said Act, a reasonable restriction, has been imposed upon the owner on the user of his property. In terms of Section 12 of the said Act, town planning is contemplated through preparation of draft development plan which contains not only proposals for designating certain area for residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural or recreational purposes but also for the purposes for maintaining environment and ecological balance by setting up zoological gardens, green belts, natural reserves and sanctuaries . In terms of such development plan reservation of certain land for public use is also provided. From the relevant provisions of the said Act, as noticed hereinbefore, it is absolutely clear that in terms thereof the State Government is made the ultimate authority to publish a development plan, inter alia, providing for designation or reservation of the land. The State Government while arriving at its conclusion as regards public interest involved in the matter i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ain consequences ensue, namely, the designation of the land shall be deemed to have lapsed. A legal fiction, therefore, has been created in the said provision. The purpose and object of creating a legal fiction in the statute is well-known. When a legal fiction is created, it must be given its full effect. In East End Dwelling Co. Ltd. v. Finsbury Borough Council, [(1951) 2 All.E.R 587], Lord Asquith, J. stated the law in the following terms:- "If you are bidden to treat an imaginary state of affairs as real, you must surely, unless prohibited from doing so, also imagine as real the consequences and incidents which, if the putative state of affairs had in fact existed, must inevitably have flowed from or accompanied it. One of these in this case is emancipation from the 1939 level of rents. The statute says that you must imagine a certain state of affairs; it does not say that having done so, you must cause or permit your imagination to boggle when it comes to the inevitable corollaries of that state of affairs." The said principle has been reiterated by this Court in M. Venugopal v. Divisional Manager, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Machilipatnam, A.P. & Anr. [(1994) 2 S ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ernment may make a fresh declaration but, in that event, the market value of the land shall be the market value at the date of the declaration under Section 6 and not the market value at the date of the notification under Section 4, and thirdly, by Section 127 that if any land reserved, allotted or designated for any purpose in any development plan is not acquired by agreement within 10 years from the date on which a final regional plan or development plan comes into force or if proceedings for the acquisition of such land under the Land Acquisition Act are not commenced within such period, such land shall be deemed to be released from such reservation, allotment or designation and become available to the owner for the purpose of development on the failure of the Appropriate Authority to initiate any steps for its acquisition within a period of six months from the date of service of a notice by the owner or any person interested in the land. It cannot be doubted that a period of 10 years is long enough., The Development or the Planning Authority must take recourse to acquisition with some amount of promptitude in order that the compensation paid to the expropriated owner bears a ju ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of Section 20, as noticed hereinbefore, provides for an enabling provision in terms whereof the State become entitled to acquire the land either by agreement or taking recourse to the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act. If by reason of a revised plan, any other area is sought to be brought within the purview of the development plan, evidently in relation thereto the State will be entitled to exercise its jurisdiction under sub-section (1) of Section 20 but it will bear repetition to state that the same would not confer any other or further power upon the State to get the duration of designation of land, which has been lapsed, extended. What is contemplated under Section 21 is to meet the changed situation and contingencies which might not have been contemplated while preparing the first final development plan. The power of the State enumerated under sub-section (1) of Section 20 does not become ipso facto applicable in the event of issuance of a revised plan as the said provision has been specifically mentioned therein so that the State may use the same power in a changed situation. The statutory interdict of use and enjoyment of the property must be strictly construed. It i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... done in neglect of this duty would work serious general inconvenience or injustice to persons who have no control over those entrusted with the duty and at the same time would not promote the main object of the Legislature, it has been the practice of the courts to hold such provisions to be directory only, the neglect of them not affecting the validity of the acts done." In Craies on Statute Law VIII Edn. at page 262, it is stated thus:- "It is the duty of courts of justice to try to get at the real intention of the Legislature by carefully attending to the whole scope of the statute to be construedThat is each case you must look to the subject-matter, consider the importance of the provision and the relation of that provision to the general object intended to be secured by the Act, and upon a review of the case in that aspect decide whether the enactment is what is called imperative or only directory." In the aforementioned backdrop, we may usefully refer to the decision of this Court in The Land Acquisition Officer, City Improvement Trust Board, Bangalore's case (supra) wherein it has been stated :- "There was some argument on the meaning of the words "so far as they are ap ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... bsp; The scheme of the provisions of the Bombay Act as regards designation or reservation of land for ten years and further right of revision after every ten years was considered having regard to the challenges made therein that thereby the State was conferred with a power which was unreasonable and thus violative of Articles 14 and 19(1) of the Constitution of India. The observations made by this Court should be understood in that context. In that case the rival contention as regards interpretation of the statute was not the subject-matter of the consideration of the Constitution Bench. The scheme of the Act was noticed thus:- "The idea behind this sub-section is that if any land is to be set apart for public purposes such as parks etc. mentioned in cl.(b) of s. 7 or any other public purpose which might be approved by a local authority or directed by the State Government in terms of cl. (e) of s. 7, the State Government must examine whether it would be possible for the local authority to be able to acquire such land by private agreement or compulsory purchase within a period of ten years. This acts as a check on the local authority making too ambitious proposals for designati ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er the same, the same cannot be said to be an authority for the proposition that by reason of Section 21 of the Act, the designation of the land although lapsed in terms of Section 20, the same would get automatically extended or revised once a revised plan is made. This Court in K.L. Gupta's case merely held that the land which is reserved for ten years can be subjected to further reservation for any period till it is actually required for its town planning activities leading to revision of development plans from time to time. Therein, this Court did not negate the right of owners. Such a right of the land-owners, as noticed hereinbefore, has been specifically acknowledged. Nowhere it was stated that valuable right conferred on a land-owner of getting his land reserved by serving notice would be defeated or taken away merely because a revised development plan was in the offing. The question raised in the said case, thus, was absolutely different. It is interesting to note that the law of the land was considered therein, as it then stood by observing:- "No one can be heard to say that the local authority after making up its mind to acquire land for a public purpose must do so wi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ration on 23rd July, 1981 which also came to be sanctioned on 2nd November, 1986 and which included the areas covered by the earlier illegally sanctioned plan on 12th August, 1983. In the aforementioned peculiar facts, the question arose as to from which date the period of ten years had to be reckoned for application of Section 20(2) of the Act. This Court answered the aforementioned question in the following terms:- "As in the present case the only question which is to be answered is as to with effect from which date 10 years period shall be counted, it has to be decided as to which date shall be deemed to be the date of coming into force of the final development plan, so far the area within the Corporation is concerned. The notification dated 2.11.1987, had been issued by the State Government covering the area notified on 12.8.1983, several years before, the issuance of notices by the writ petitioners. The notification dated 2.11.1987, was neither questioned by the writ petitioners-respondents nor could have been questioned, according to us. When power has been vested in the appellant to prepare a draft development plan and there being no bar to include in the said draft d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... other submissions were made before the High Court which were not taken into consideration. In State of Maharashtra v. Ramdas Shrinivas Nayak & Anr. [AIR 1982 SC 1249], this Court observed:- "When we drew the attention of the learned Attorney General to the concession made before the High Court, Shri A.K. Sen, who appeared for the State of Maharashtra before the High Court and led the arguments for the respondents there and who appeared for Shri Antulay before us intervened and protested that he never made any such concession and invited us to peruse the written submission made by him in the High Court. We are afraid that we cannot launch into an inquiry as to what transpired in the High Court. It is simply not done. Public Policy bars us. Judicial decorum restrains us. Matters of judicial record are unquestionable. They are not open to doubt. Judges cannot be dragged into the arena. "Judgments cannot be treated as mere counters in the game of litigation". (Per Lord Atkinson in Somasundaran v. Subramanian, AIR 1926 PC 136). We are bound to accept the statement of the Judges recorded in their judgment, as to what transpired in court. We cannot allow the statement of the Judges to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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