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TMI Blog2008 (7) TMI 944X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act for the public purpose. 4. Learned counsel appearing for the parties advanced elaborate and in- depth arguments on the aforesaid issue. But before we deal with and discuss the same, it would be necessary for us to mention a few facts leading to filing of the present appeals. 5. On 24.10.1961, a Notification was issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act under the orders of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi intending acquisition of land for the public purpose, namely for the planned development of Delhi. Under the aforesaid Notification the land allegedly belonging to the predecessors in-interest of the present appellants which constitute the subject matter of the present appeals was also sought to be acquired. Declaration under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act through a Notification dated 4.1.1969 was also issued stating that the said land is required for the public purpose, namely, for the planned development of Delhi. In the year 1980, two of the appellants viz. Mrs. Meera Sahni and Mrs. Padma Mahant purchased the said acquired land from one Shri Chand which was transferred through Mr. Nand Kishore, power of attorney hol ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... i's case (supra) upholding the acquisition proceedings the Land Acquisition Officer in terms of the order passed by this court, on 12.12.1997 award was made and the same was published in respect of the aforementioned acquired land. 8. Being aggrieved by the said award Mrs. Meera Sahni and Padma Mahant filed Review Petition Nos.103/99 and 104/99 respectively before the High Court and thereafter filed second substantive Writ Petition being No.5918/1999 on the ground that the lands in dispute were purchased only after obtaining due permission under Section 5 of the Delhi Lands Act and that the sale deeds were executed in their favour were duly registered with the sub registrar on 05.06.1980 with the endorsement that No Objection Certificate (for short "NOC") has been obtained. Issue of an order or direction declaring the award and the further proceedings under section 16 of the Land Acquisition Act as invalid, illegal and void was prayed for in the said proceedings. Seeking similar relief, Writ Petition No.1076 of 2000 was filed by Saphire Sales (P) Ltd., Writ Petition No.1074 of 2000 was filed by Zircon Trading (P) Ltd and Writ Petition No.1075/2000 was filed by Eternal Agencies ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ance with law and the aforesaid transfer having been accepted by the competent authority as legal and valid transfer, no title of the land could pass to the respondents only because notification and declaration were issued in respect of the said land. It was also contended that there was no bar in transferring the said land although the said land is the subject matter of notifications under section 4 and declaration under section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act and once the aforesaid land becomes free from acquisition by operation of law, it could be transferred as was done in the present case. It was also submitted that if the aforesaid contentions of the appellants are not upheld, the appellants could be given an opportunity to file their objections under Section 5 of the Land Acquisition Act or this Court should give a direction to the Land Acquisition Branch for allotment of alternative land to the appellants as they were sought to be deprived of the fruits of their bona fide purchase after a long gap of eight years. 11. The said contentions of the appellants were refuted by Shri Parag P. Tripathi, the learned Additional Solicitor General, appearing for the respondents drawing o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ryone that the land is needed or is likely to be needed for public purpose and the acquisition proceedings point out and an implement to anyone to encumber the land acquired thereunder. It authorizes the designated officer to enter upon the land to do preliminaries etc. Therefore, any alienation of the land after the publication of the notification under Section 4(1) does not bind the government or the beneficiary under the acquisition. On taking possession of the land, all rights, title and interests in land stand vested in the State, under Section 16 of the Act, free from all encumbrances and thereby absolute title in the land is acquired thereunder......" The said proposition of law was also reiterated in the cases of Ajay Kishan Shinghal & Ors. vs. Union of India reported in (1996) 10 SCC 721 and Star Wire (India) Ltd. vs. State of Haryana and others reported in (1996) 11 SCC 698. 13. In view of the aforesaid decisions it is by now well settled law that under the Land Acquisition Act the subsequent purchaser cannot challenge the acquisition proceedings and that he would be only entitled to get the compensation. 14. Delhi being the capital city of India, there was a tremendou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d includes any scheme, project or work to be implemented in pursuance of the provisions of the Delhi Master Plan as approved by the Central Government under sub-section (2) of section 9 of the Development Act." Relevant for our purpose are the provisions of Sections 4 and 5 which read as under: "4. Regulation on transfer of lands in relation to which acquisition proceedings have been initiated - No person shall, except with the previous permission in writing of the competent authority, transfer or purport to transfer by sale, mortgage, gift, lease or otherwise any land or part thereof situated in the Union territory of Delhi, which is proposed to be acquired in connection with the Scheme and in relation to which a declaration to the effect that such land or part thereof is needed for a public purpose having been made by the Central Government under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, the Central Government has not withdrawn from the acquisition under Section48 of the Act. 5. Application for grant of permission for transfer under section 4 - (1) Any person desiring to transfer any land referred to in section 4 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d section reads as under: "8. Restrictions on registration of transfers of land - Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, where any document required to be registered under the provisions of clause (a) to clause (e) of sub-section (1) of Section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908, purports to transfer by sale, mortgage, gift, lease or otherwise any land or part thereof referred to in section 4, no registering officer appointed under that Act shall register any such document unless the transferor produces before such registering officer a permission in writing of the competent authority for such transfer." Section 11 of the Delhi Lands Act deals with the rule making power. It provides that the Administrator may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of the said Act. Rule 3 of the Delhi Lands (Restriction on Transfer) Rules, 1972 envisages that an application under Section 5 of the Delhi Lands Act is to be made by every person seeking permission of the competent authority. The said application has to be made in duplicate i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the details of which are given in the statement stands notified under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 vide Notification No._______ Dated___________ OR (iii) The property/land bearing Mpl No. Khasra No. ____________________(Sic) the details of which are given in the statement has not been notified so far under Section of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 this information is valid for a period of 30 days from the date of issue. Sd/- 27/5/92 For Tehsildar Notification For Additional District Magistrate (LA) Delhi (Clauses not applicable should be deleted )" The requirement of the statute is that such permission for transfer of land by way of sale, mortgage, lease, gift or otherwise of the aforesaid nature could be so registered by the registering authority only when permission is granted by the competent authority in terms of the requirement of the statute. Permission to transfer or refusing to grant transfer any such land is to be given by the competent authority and such permission is to be obtained prior to the transaction entered into, which must be in writing. At this stage we may refer to the copy of the notification issued by the Delhi Administration: Delhi (L ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . Ltd. and M/s Eternal Agency (P) Ltd. A bare perusal of the contents of the said applications shows that they are not the applications which are required to be filed under Section 5 of the Delhi Lands Act. Those applications were not submitted in the form as is prescribed in Form I. Mrs. Meera Sahni and Mrs. Padma Mahant have not filed copies of any such application before us. There is nothing on record to show that the said applications were produced and presented before the competent authority as pointed out in terms of Section 2(b) of the Delhi Lands Act. None of the aforesaid applications also indicate that the land in respect of which permission/NOC sought for is the subject matter of acquisition proceeding. 20. It is by now a certain law that an action to be taken in a particular manner as provided by a statue, must be taken, done or performed in the manner prescribed and in no other manner. In this connection we may appropriately refer to the decision of this Court in Babu Verghese v. Bar Council of Kerala, (1999) 3 SCC 422, wherein it was held as under: 31. It is the basic principle of law lon ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r transfer and also for registering the said documents was complied with, as is required to be done. 22. It is, thus, established from the record placed before us that neither any proper application was made either by the predecessors in-interest of the appellants or by the appellants themselves, as envisaged under Sections 4 and 5 of the Delhi Lands Act, nor any valid and legal permission was granted to the appellants by the competent authority under the provisions of the aforesaid Act. The transfers made in favour of the appellants by the original land holders by execution of the sale deed, therefor are illegal and without jurisdiction. We have no hesitation in our mind in holding that no title could be conveyed or could pass to the appellants on the basis of such transfer and also that consequential mutation in favour of the appellants for the above reasons is found and held to be without jurisdiction. 23. We have also given our consideration to the contention of learned senior counsel Dr. A.M. Singhvi that it is a case of remand to the High Court so as to enable the High Court to enquire into factual aspect as to whether or not there was a proper application and that whether ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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