TMI Blog1994 (7) TMI 347X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nsisted of 220 princely states rules by sovereign Rulers in their own rights.The lands in these appeals form present parts of Surendra Nagar and Bhavnagar districts. In the State of Saurashtra, the Rulers entered into agreements with Taluqadar and estate holders and also created a class of interested people known as Barkhalidars or Girasdars, Various parcels of lands together with all rights in or interest over those lands were granted for cultivation on payment of revenue etc. with a right of succession in favour of their cadets or relations or favourites known as Girasdars or Barkhalidars . Gharkhed , known in South India estate tenures as Homefarm lands , means land reserved by land holder for personal cultivatioa Bid Land means such lands as has been used by the land holders for grazing his cattle or for cutting grass for the cattle. Land holder means Zamindar, Jagirdar, Girasdar, Taluqadar etc. or any person who is a holder of land or who is interested in land and whom the Government has declared, on account of the extent and value of the land or his interests therein, to be a landholder. The system in vogue was that the lands that were under control of the rulers ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... equences of the abolition of Girasdars' and Barkhalidars' rights in the estate have been provided in Section 4 of the Act. Under clasue (2) of s.4 relevant for the purpose of this case, it has been provided that consequent upon the notification issued by the govern-ment under Section 3, with effect from the specified date, all cultivable and non-cultivable waste land, excluding land used for building or other non-agricultural purposes........which are comprised in the estates so notified shall, except in so far as any rights of any person other than the Girasdar or the Barkhalidar may be established in and over the same......and shall be deemed to be, with all rights in or over the same or appertaining thereto, the property of the State and all rights held by a Girasdar or a Barkhalidar in such property shall be deemed to have been extinguished, (emphasis supplied) and it shall be lawful for the Collector, subject to the general or special orders of the Revenue Commissioner, to dispose of them as he deems fit, subject always to the rights of way and or other rights of the public or of individuals legally subsisting. Under Section 7, a Girasdar or Barkhalidar is entitled to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The Act gives right to the Barkhalidar to make an application for personal cultivation and the details etc. are not necessary for the purposes of these appeals. As seen, consequent upon the abolition of the estate under section 3(1) of the Act by issuance of the notification and ensuring consequences under Section 4, the Girasdar or Barkharidari tenures stood extinguished and vested in the State. When questioned in Civil Application No. 689/65 in T.K. Gohil and Ors. v. C.K. Dave by a decision dated 14.8.69 J.B. Mehta, J. held that the provisions of Sections 3 and 4 of the Act would be applicable only to uncultivable waste lands which alone stood vested in the State and the lands with mines and minerals could not be held to be uncultivable waste lands and did not vest in the State. The said decision was confirmed by the Division Bench in L.P.A, No. 73/70 dated March 15, 1971. Section 69 of the Code, which was admittedly adapted to the Saurashtra region of the Gujarat State, states that the right of the Govern-ment to mines and mineral products in all unalienated land is and hereby declared to be expressly reserved provided that nothing in this Section shall be deemed to affect a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ite in comparition of ammount of the equivalent to the average to the net anual income recived by the occupint in respect of the manged and inieral products the three yenrs immediately prociecing the date of vesting. 'It is settled law that the concept 'estate' denotes that the person holding the estate should be in direct relationship with the State paying land revenue except what is remitted in whole or in part or exempted etc. There may be variation in the local equation. The other sub-sections are not relevant for disposal of these appeals. Hence omitted. The first contention of the appellants is that, under Entry 54, of List I of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, since Regulation of Mines and Minerals Development Act, 1957 occupies the field of mines and minerals covered in Section 69A of the Amendment Act, it is void and is ultra vires of the Constitution. We find no force in this contention. The State Legislature under Entry I8 (land) and Entry 23 (Regulation of Mines and mineral development) of part II of the State List of Seventh Schedule and Entry 42 of List III of the Seventh Schedule (Acquisition of Property) under which the State Legislature c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r of the Lists, The Lists are designed to define and delimit the respective areas of respective competence of the Union and the States. They neither impose any implied restriction on the legislative power con-ferred by Article 246 of the Constitution, nor prescribe any duty to exercise that legislative power in any particular manner. Hence, the language of the Entries should be given widest scope to find out which of the meaning is fairly capable in the set up of the machinery of the government. Each general word should be held to extend to all ancillary or subsidiary matters which can fairly and reasonably be comprehended in it. In interpreting an Entry, it would not be reasonable to impart any limitation by comparing or contrasting that Entry with any other one's in the same list. It is in this background that one has to examine the present con-troversy. It is seen that under Entry 18 of List II (State List) land , that is to say, right in or over the land....... Entry 23 (Regulation of Mines and Mineral Development) subject to the provision of List I in respect of regulation and development under the control of the Union Govt. So it relates to regulation and development ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rds, subject to limitations upon the use of airspace imposed, and rights in the use of airspace granted by law. The Law Lexicon (Reprint edn. 1987) by Ramanatha Iyer p. 701, the word 'land in the ordinary legal sense comprehends everything of a fixed or permanent nature and, therefore, growing trees, land includes the benefit arise out of the land and things attached to the earth or permanently means everything attached to the earth and also the share in or charges on, the revenue or rent of villages or other defined portions of territory. Land includes the bed of the sea below high water mark.....Land shall extend to messuages, and all other hereditaments, whether corporal or incorporeal and whether freehold or of any other tenure and to money to be paid out in the purchase of land. Land in its widest signification would therefore include not only the surface of the ground, cultivable, uncultivable or waste lands but also everything on or under it. In Jagannath Singh v. State of U.P., AIR (1960) SC 1563 p. 1568, this Court held that the word land is wide enough to include all lands whether agricultural or non-agricultural land. In State of U.P. v. Sarju Devi, [1978] 1 SC ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hin the ambit of reservation under Section 69 read with Section 69A(1) of the Act, Thereby it is clear that, in pith and substance, the predominent purpose of the Amendment Act is to extinguish the pre-existing rights, title and interests in the land which includes the mines, minerals and quarries held by Girasdars or B .rkhajidars extingushed their rights and reserved and vested them in the State of Gujarat for public use. It would thereby tall within Entry 18 and 23 of List II (State List) read with Entry 42 of List III (Concurrent List). In India Cement case, the question was whether levy of cess under Section 115 of Madras Panchayat Act on royalty is additional land revenue or additional royalty and whether the levy is constitutionally valid. In considering that question, a bench of seven judges, per majority, held that Section 9(3) of the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 imposes a liability to pay royalty and prohibits the State not to enhance more than once during a period of four year; imposition of the cess was considered to be a tax on royalty and, therefore, it is a tax on mineral rights. Accordingly, the cess on royalty was held to be outside t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ines and minerals rights of any occupant of such land and therely saved the right to mines etc. in alienated lands held under the grant etc. By operation of the Amendment Act, by detection of the word 'unalienated' and the proviso with retrospective effect from May 1, 1960 applying non-obstante clause. Section 69A(1) of the Code, rendered any grant ot an agreement or a judgment, decree or order of a Court inoperative from May 1, 1960 and all mines whether being worked or not, all minerals whether discovered or not and all quarries situated in any land, subject to the saving, shall vest in the State. Their regulation and development is subject to Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act of 1957. The aforementioned respective enactments undoubtedly dealt with the abolition and extinguishment of pre-existing right, title and interest in the lands had under a grant etc. by Girasdari or Barkhalidari. In particular, the Act abolished the estates, extinguished the pre-existing rights, title and interest of landholders and conferred ryatwari settlement on the starvation ryots, the tillers of the soil with permanent occupancy rights. In other words, they are part of ag ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y settled law that every statute which takes away or impairs vested rights acquired under existing taws or creates a new obligation or imposes a new duty or burden or touches a new right in respect of transaction already passed must normally be presumed, unless expressed otherwise, to be intended not to have retrospective effect. In the light of the language in s.2 of the Amendment Act, the express retrospective operation given to the Amendment Act, with effect from May 1, 1960 retrospectively effected vested rights of the Girasdar or Barkhalidars created by a grant or agree-ment etc. or flown from a judgment, order or a decree of any court and stood extinguished with effect from May 1, 1960. It is true that a limited retrospective effect was given to the Amendment Act as the State was formed and became operative from May 1, 1960, the date on which the State was formed. So, any grant or agreement etc. though otherwise was valid with effect from any of the anterior date, would cease and lose then validity from May 1, 1960. Any other earlier date would have rendered the Amendment Act ultra vires. Only to obviate such an interpretation, con-sistent with the date of existence of the S ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Amendment Act, 1990, with effect from June 7, 1990. While dealing with the first contention, we have held that the Amendment Act is part of the scheme of agrarian reform envisaged under the Act falling within Entry 18 and 23 of List II (State List) and Entry 42 of Concurrent List of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution. So it is saved by Article 31A of the Constitu tion. This Court in State of West Bengal v. Mrs. Bela Banerjee Ors. [1954] SCR 558, State of West Bengal v. Subodh Gopal Bose Ors., [1954] SCR 587, interpreted the word 'compensation' in clause (2) of Article 31 as just equivalent or indemnification for the property expropriated which led to the Constitution 4th Amendment Act, 1955 suitably amending Article 31(2) that no law providing for compulsory acquisition or requisition shall be called in question in any court on the ground of compensation provided by that law is not adequate. Its effect was considered in P. Vajravelu Mudaliar v. Spl. Deputy Collector, Madras Ors., [1965] 1 SCR 614 and the Court reiterated the interpretation put up in Bela Banerjee's case. This court also, on that score, struck down the Metal Corporation (Acquisition of U ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... annot be a matter for judicial review but the principles to determine the compensation must be relevant to the consideration and must not be illusory. The fundamental rights are subject to reasonable restrictions and rational discrimination and that, therefore, are amendable under Article 368 and they are not basic features or basic structure of the Constitution. The agrarian reforms covered under Art. 3LA brought by Constitution First Amendment Act and saved by Art. 31B as well as Art. 31C brought by Constitution 25th Amendment Act were upheld. Khanna, J. who constituted the majority held that right to property did not pertain to the basic structure of Constitution and it was subordinate to the common good as explained in Indira Gandhi's case. According to Hidayatullah, J. in his concurrent judgment in Golak Nath v. State of Punjab, [1967] SCR 177 and reiterated in his Right to Property and the Indian Constitution , the right to property is an acquired right and it is the weakest right fit to be placed along with commerce clauses. The Constitution 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 had given primacy to law made to implement any or all directive principles and provided protective umbrel ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ctrical Undertakings holding that it did not offend Art. 14 of the Constitution. In Assam Sillianite Ltd. v. Union of India, [1992] Suppl. 1 SCC 692 and in Union of India v. Han Krishan Khosla (dead) by Lrs., [1993] Suppl. 2 SCC 149, benches of two and three judges respectively held that s.8(3)(a) of the Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property Act, 1952 was not violative of Art. 14 nor damage nor destroy the basic structure of the Constitution. In Smt. Indira Gandhi v. Shri Raj Narain, [1976] 2 SCR 347, Mathew J. held that to be a basic structure it must be a terrestrial concept having its habitate within the four corners of the Constitution and Art. 14 is not a basic structure. After the deletion of the right to property omitting of Arts. 19(1)(f) and 31 of the Constitution by the Constitution 44th Amend- ment Act, the right to property, which was hitherto a fundamental right was dethroned from Part III and became a constitutional right under Art, 300A resaucitating only Art. 31(1) of the Constitution as originally made. The question, therefore, is whether right to property is a basic structure, after Constitution 44th Amendment Act, 1978. Indian society is pred ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e imposition of ceiling on agricultural holdings in Maharashtra Agricutural Lands (Ceiling on Holdings) Act, 1961 as amended up to 1976 in Woman Rao's case. Chandrachud. CJ. speaking for the unanimous Constitution Bench, that decided first Minerva Mills case prior to Constitution 44th Amendment Act, 1978, considered the constitutionality of the First Constitution Amendment Act, 1951 Intro- ducting Article 31-A and Article 31-B traced the history of land tenures, the debates in the Constituent Assembly, need for the agrarian reforms and stated that in our predominantly agricultural society, there is a strong linkage between ownership of land and the person's status in the social system. Those without land suffer not only from an economic disadvantage, but also a concomitant social disadvantage. In the very nature of things, it is not possible to provide land to all landless persons but that cannot furnish an alibi for not undertaking at all a programme for the redistribu- tion of agricultural land. Agrarian reform therefore requires, inter alia, the reduction of the larger holdings and distribution of the excess land accord-ing to social and economic considerations.......... ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... only natural or physical resources but also movable or immovable properties such as the vehicles, tools, imple- ments and the workshops, etc. The mere fact that the resources are material will make no differences in the concept of the word 'resources'. The word 'distribution' used hi Article 39(b) must be broadly construed so that a court may give full and comprehensive effect to the statutory intent contained in Article 39(b). It should not be construed in a purely literal sense so as to mean only division of a particular kind or to particular persons. The word 'distribution' will include various facets, aspects, methods and terminology of a broad-based concept of distribution. It does not merely mean that property of one should be taken over and distributed to others like land reforms. It is only one of the modes of distribution but not the only mode. Nationalisation of the transport as also the units, the vehicles would be able to go to the farthest.......... as possible and provide better and quicker and more efficacious facilities . Nationalisation of con-tract carriages were thus upheld. In Sanjeev Coke Manufacturing Co.'s case, it was held tha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for the community are material resources. The word distribution equally must be construed broadly to include not only allotment of resources to public use but also dispensation of largess to the poor to provide access to equal opportunity. In other words it is a broad based concept and it should not be confined within narrow confines. Mines, minerals and quarries embedded in the land are material resources of the community amenable to public use or for distribution. Thus it is clear that right to property under Art, 300A is not a basic feature or structure of the Constitution. It is only a constitutional right. The Amendment Act having had the protective umbrella of Ninth Schedule habitat under Art. 31B, its invalidity is immuned from attack by operation of Art. 31A. Even otherwise it would fall under Arts. 39(b) and (c) as contended by the appellants. It is saved by Art. 31C. Though in the first Minerva Mill's case, per majority, Article 14 was held to be a basic struc-ture, the afore-referred and other preceding and subsequent to the first Minerva Mill's case consistently held that Art. 14 is not a basic structure. Article-14 of the Constitution in the context of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ning delimting the field of eminent domain, namely, compulsory acquisition of the property and given protection to private owners against the State action. S.R. Das, J. reiterated his view laid in Subodh Gupal's case. Vivian Bose, J. held that the word 'taken possession of or 'acquired' in Art. 31(2) have to be read along with the word 'deprived' in clause (1). Taking possession or acquisition amounts to deprivation within the meaning of clause (1). No hard and fast rule can be laid down. Each case must depend on its own facts. The word law used in Art. 300A must be an Act of Parliament or of State Legislature, a rule or statutory order having force of law. The deprivation of the property shall be only by authority of law, be it an Act of Parliament or State Legislature, but not by executive fiat or an order. Deprivation of property is by acquisition or requisition or taking possession of for a public purpose. It is true as contended by Sri Javery that clause (2) of Art. 31 was not suitably incorporated in Art. 300A but the obligation to pay compen-sation to the deprived owner of his property was enjoined as an inherent incident of acquisition under law ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rmanently, its dominion over any portion of the soil of the State including private property without its owner's consent on account of public exigency and for the public good. Eminent domain is the highest and most exact idea of property remaining in the government, or in the aggregate body of the people in their sovereign capacity. It gives the right to resume possession of the property in the manner directed by the Constitution and the laws of the State, whenever the public interest requires it. The term 'expropriation' is practically synonymous with the term eminent domain . This Court in Chiranjit Lal Chowdhuri v. Union of India, [1950J SCR 869, held that eminent domain is a right inherent in every sovereign to take and appropriate private property belonging to individual citizens for public use. The limitation imposed upon acquisition or taking possession of private property which is implied in the clause (2) of Art. 31 is that such taking must be for public purpose. The other condition is that no property can be taken, unless the law which authorises such appropriation contains a provision for payment of compensation in the mam ar as laid down in the clause. I ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Article 51A(h) (j) enjoins on him, a fundamental duty, to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform. Every citizen shall strive towards excel- lence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement. In Woman Rao's case this court held that there is a strong linkage between ownership of land and person's status in social system . Private ownership entails political and legal power. Control over property amounts to control over people and their lives. Dominion over things is an imperium over fellow human beings. Property, therefore, accords status. Due to its lack man suffers from economic disadvantages and disabilities to gain social and economic inequality leading to his servitude. Providing facilities and opportunities to hold property furthers the basic structure of egalitarian social order guaranteeing economic and social equality. In other words, it removes disabilities and inequalities, accords status, social and economic and dignity of person. Quoting Prof. Ginsberg. Mathew J, in Kesavananda Bharati's case held that :- It is necessary ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o him only through property. Roscoe Pound has argued that a system of individual property on the whole conduces to maintaining and furthering of civilisation. Sir Henry Maine wrote that nobody is at liberty to attach (amass) several property and to say at the same time he values civilization. The history of the two cannot be disen-tangled. (See Village Community, p.230). Granting facilities and oppor-tunites to hold the property furthers the basic structures of egalitarian social order guaranteeing equality and it would remove disabilities and inequalities and accords status and dignity of person. The term 'property' in Art. 300A receives its true colour and reflectrion from the context in which State's power of eminent domain or police power is invoked and effectuated. Property in legal sense means an aggregate of rights which are guaranteed and protected by law. it extends to every species of valuable right and interest, more particularly, ownership and exclusive right to a thing, the right to dispose of the thing in every legal way, to possess it, to use it and to exclude every one else from interfering with it. The dominion or indefinite right of use or dispositi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s , 1949- Edition by Kahn-Feund, pages 105-08 and 114-22, stated the Proper-ty in modern conditions has become a means of control over other people's labour and life. Private property ownership requires reconciliation with public interest balancing public needs against private needs. M.R. Cohen in his essay on Property am' Sovereignty [13 Cornell Law Quarterly 8| stated that right is a relation, not between an owner and a thing, but between th-; owner and other individuals in reference to things. Therefore, property as a right over things resolves it into component right such as the jus utendi,for disponendi, etc. Justice Matnew opined in his right to property that in law, control of property means control of matter, and, it becomes control over human beings. The institution of private law imply the total power of doing with the thing what one likes, has, in fact become an institution of public law (power of command) and its main functions are exercised by complementary legal institutions developed from the law of obligations. According to Justice Mathew the law eventually takes account of this change of function by giving property an increasing public law- character. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o him only through property. In his concluding observations at p.19 Justice Mathew had stated that the property is the greatest source of friction in a community, extreme ine-quality in the distribution of property has been and will be a cause of revolution in states. I am not sure the problem will be solved by transferring the ownership of property in the means production to the state. This will add economic power to political power and will render the individual more helpless than in the capitalistic system where power and responsibility are diffused. This does not mean that the final directing power over economic system should not be in the hands of the community. An individual has a right to conditions of well being and that consists in the case of many individuals of the right as well as the duty to work. The system should be so organized that no individual can, through possession of property, have power over the lives of others. Hidayatullah, C.J., in his 'Right to Property - at p.88 stated that Socialism envisaged reform which would disturb this right and make provision for the resources to be employed in aid of the suffering classes, as it is contemplated as the co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Phrase 'deprivation of the property of a person' must equally be considered in the fact situation of a case. Deprivation connotes different concepts. Article 300A gets attracted to an acquisition or taking possession of private property, by necessary implication for public purpose, in accordance with the law made by the Parliament or a State legislature, a rule or a statutory order having force of law. It is inherent in every sovereign State by exercising it's power of eminent domain to expropriate private property without owner's consent. Prima facie, State would be the judge to decide whether a purpose is a public purpose. But it is not the sole judge. This will be subject to judicial review and it is the duty of the Court to determine whether a particular purpose is a public purpose or not. Public interest has always been considered to be an essential ingredient of public purpose. But every public purpose does not fall under Article 300A nor every exercise of eminent domain an acquisition or taking possession under Article 300A. Generally speaking preservation of public health or prevention of damage to life and property are considered to be public purposes. Y ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ns of satisfying human claims to have things and to do things should go around, as far as possible, with least friction and waste. In his A Survey of Social Interests , 57th, Harvard Law Review, 1 at 39(1943), he elaborated thus : 'Looked at functionally the law is an attempt to satisfy, to reconcile, to harmonize, to adjust these overlapping and often conflicting claims and demands, either through securing them directly and immediately, or through securing certain individual interests or through delimitations or compromises of individual interests, so as to give effect to the greatest total of interests or to the interests that weigh more in our civilization with the least sacrifice of the scheme of interests as a whole . In his 'theory of justice'. 1951 Edition, at page 31 he stated that the law means to balance the competing interests of an individual along with the social interests of the society. In his work, justice according to Law, he observed : We come to an idea of maximum satisfaction of human wants or expectations. What we have to do in social control and so in law, is to reconcile and adjust these desires or wants or expectations, so far as we can, so ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o amend the Constitution, without violating its basic features or structure. Concomitantly legislature has power to acquire the property of private person exercising the power of eminent domain by a law for public purpose. The law may fix an amount or which may be determined in accordance with such principles as may be laid therein and given in such manner as may be specified in such law. However, such law shall not be questioned on the grounds that the amount so fixed or amount determined is not adequate. The amount fixed must be not be illusory. The principles laid to determine the amount must be relevant to the determina-tion of the amount. The doctrine of illusory amount or fixation of the principles to be arbitrary were evolved drawing support from the language originally couched in the unamended Entry 42 of List III which stood amended by the Constitution 7th Amendment Act with the words merely Acquisition and Requisition of Property'. Nevertheless even thereafter this court reiterated this same principles. Therefore, the amendment to Entry 42 of List III has little bearing on the validity of those principles. We are conscious that the parliament omitted Art. 31(2) altog ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... onstitution. In Basant Bat's case this court held that the provision in s.44(3) of the Maharashtra Housing and Develop-ment Act that in the absence of agreement, the amount shall be equal to 100 times the net average monthly income actually derived from such land during the period of five consecutive years immediately preceding the date of the publication of the notification referred to in s. 41, as may be determined by the Land Acquisition Officer, was held to be not violative of Art. 14. Article 21 was held to have no application to the determination of such amount. In Tinsukhiya's case a Constitution Bench held that the limitation of the amount on the basis of the written down book value of the assets was held to be not violative of Art. 14 and such principle was held to be not illusory nor arbitrary. The determination of the amount was held to be an integral and inseparable part of the scheme of nationalisation which cannot be cancelled as a distinct provision independent of the scheme. It was also further held that the material resources of the com-munity mentioned in Art. 39(b) must be widely interpreted and nationalisa-tion and acquisition is one of the methods of di ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ets restituted with renewed vigour claiming compensation under the grab 'deprivation of property' in Art. 300A, The Amendment Act neither receives wrath of Art. 13(2), nor does s.69A become ultra vires of Art. 300A. The further contention that money value of the rupee from three years preceding May 1, 1960 till date, has considerable been eroded and that, therefore, the fixation on the principle of net annual income of three years preceding the date of vesting, namely 1st May, 1960 is arbitrary and amount so determined is illusory is also devoid of substance. In Achutanantida's case, it was contended that compensation money should be so calculated that the purchasing power of the amount of compensation to be paid on the date of the actual payment will not be less than its purchasing power on the date of vesting. Repelling the contention this court held that on the date of vesting which was well over two decades ago, the purchasing powers of rupee was much higher than its present value. It is more of less the world phenomenon that the erosion in value of unit of currency has been taking place. But this inevitable devaluation due to inflationary trends does not affect ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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