TMI Blog1961 (8) TMI 39X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 19 cottahs and 11 chattacks of land of the said Tea Estate. The petitioner filed two petitions in this Court under Art. 32 of the Constitution praying for the issue of writs of mandamus directing the respondents to forbear from giving effect to the said orders. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner raised before us two contentions, namely, (i) tea industry is a matter for exclusive legislation by the Parliament under Entry 52, List I of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution,, and therefore, the Assam Land (Requisition and Acquisition), Act of 1948, hereinafter called the Act), in so far as it provides for the requisition and acquisition of a tea estate or lands appertaining,to it, is ultravires the :State Legislature ; and (ii) the said Act is also constitutionally void as it offends Art. 31(2) of the constitution, inasmuch as it does not. either provide for payment of compensation' for the property requisitioned or specify the principles on which and the manner in which compensation is to be determined. To appreciate the first contention, it is necessary to state some facts. The Assam Land, (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948, was passed by the Assam Legis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... land for certain purposes. Section 3 confers on the Provincial Government a power to requisition any land for the purpose of maintaining supplies and services essen- tial to the life of the community or for providing proper facilities for accommodation, transport, 'communication,irrigation or drainage. Section 4 enables the Government to require the land so requisitioned. Section 6 provides for the release of the land from requisition. Sections 7 and 8 prescribe the mode of awarding compensation for requisition or acquisition of land, as the case may be. The Act in essence provides only for requisition or acquisition of lands in public interest. It has nothing to do with tea industry, and as for that matter any industry. The Tea Act was enacted for a different, purpose altogether. The long title given in the Act shows that it was enacted to provide for the control by the Union of the tea industry, including the control, in pursuance of the International Agreement now in force, of the cultivation of tea in, and of the export of tea from, India and for that purpose to establish a Tea Board and levy a customs duty on tea exported from India Chapter II provides for the estab ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... A comparative study of both the Acts makes it clear that the two Acts deal with different matters and were passed for different purposes. The Tea Act in no sense of the term can be described as one altering, repealing or amending the Act passed by the Assam Legislature. This contention is, therefore, rejected. There are no merits in the second contention either. Article 31(2) of the Constitution reads : No property shall be compulsorily acquired or requisitioned save for a public purpose and save by authority of a law which provides for compensation for the property so acquired or requisitioned and either fixes the amount of the compensation or specifies the principles on which, and the manner in which, the compensation is to be determined and given; and no such law shall be called in question in any court on the ground that the compensation provided by that law is not adequate. Under this Article, the law made for acquiring or requisitioning a property is conditioned by two circumstances, namely, (i) the existence of a public purpose, and (ii) the payment of compensation. If the law provides for compensation and either fixes the amount of compensation or specifies the pri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uisition of land. Acquisition deprives the owner permanently of his land; and requisition deprives him only of his right to present. possession. When the necessity for which the land was requisitioned ceased, it may be made to revert to him. Sub-s.(2) of s. 8 of the Act makes the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, with due alterations of details or appropriate changes apply in respect of any reference made to the Court. Part III of the Land Acquisition' Act provides for a reference to the Court and the procedure thereof. With appropriate modifications the provisions of that Chapter. apply to a reference in respect of compensation for requisition. Sections 23, 24 and 25 lay down the principles for ascertaining the amount of compensa- tion able to a person whose land has been acquired. We do not see any difficulty in applying those principles for paying compensation in the matter of requisition of land. While in the case of land acquired, the market value of the land is ascertained, in the case of requisition of land, the compensation to the owner for depriving him of his possession for a stated period will be ascertained. It may be that appropriate changes in the phra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
