TMI Blog1986 (9) TMI 416X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sal to the Collector of Meerut for acquisition of 662 big has 10 biswas and 2 biswanis of land (approximately equal to 412 acres) situated at villages Mukarrabpur, Plahera, Paragana-Daurala, Tehsil Sardhana, Distt. Meerut for its housing scheme with the object of providing housing accommodation to the residents of Meerut city. After making necessary enquiries and receipt of the report from the tehsildar of Sardhana, the Collector was fully satisfied about the need for the acquisition of the land. He accordingly wrote a letter on December 13, 1979 to the Commissioner and Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh recommending the acquisition of the above extent of land in the villages mentioned above and he also stated that since there was acute shortage of houses in Meerut city, it was necessary that the State Government should invoke section 17(i) and (4) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). He also submitted a certificate as required by the Rules containing the relevant data on the basis of which the Government could take a decision. In that certificate he stated that the acquisition of the land was very nece ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e circumstances of the case. The High Court after hearing the parties held that the notification dated 29.4.1980 under section 4 of the Act which contained a direction under section 17(4) of the Act dispensing with the inquiry under section 5-A of the Act was an invalid one and, therefore, both the notification under section 4 and the subsequent declaration made under section 6 of the Act were liable to be quashed. Accordingly they were quashed. It should be stated here that while only 17 persons owning about 40 acres of land had filed the writ petitions, the High Court set aside the acquisition of the entire extent of about 412 acres. That was the effect of quashing the notification issued under section 4(1) of the Act and all subsequent proceedings as the relief was not confined to the petitioners only. By the time the judgment of the High Court was pronounced on May 24, 1985, it is stated, that the Meerut Development Authority had spent more than ₹ 4 crores on the development of the land which had been acquired. By then 854 houses had been constructed on the land and 809 plots had been allotted by it to various persons. All the landowners other than the writ petitioners ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ld be said that on account of the mere delay of nearly one year in the publication of the declaration it could be said that the order made by the State Government dispensing with the compliance with section 5-A of the Act at the time of the publication of the notification under section 4(1) of the Act would stand vitiated in the absence of any other material. In this case there is no allegation of any kind of mala fides on the part of either the Government or any of the officers, nor do the respondents contend that there was no urgent necessity for providing housing accommodation to a large number of people of Meerut city during the relevant time. The letters and the certificates submitted by the Collector and the Secretary of the Meerut Development Authority to the State Government before the issue of the notification under section 4(1) of the Act clearly demonstrated that at that time there was a great urgency felt by them regarding the provision of housing accommodation at Meerut. The State Government acted upon the said reports, certificates and other material which were before it. In the circumstances of the case it cannot be said that the decision of the State Government in r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ovision for house sites for Harijans is an urgent and pres sing necessity and that the invocation of the emergency provisions of the Land Acquisition Act cannot be said to be improper, in the absence of mala fides, merely because of the delay on the part of some Government officials. What was said by the learned Judge in the context of provision of housing accommodation to Harijans is equally true about the problem of providing housing accommodation to all persons in the country today having regard to the enormous growth of population in the country. The observation made in the above decision of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh is quoted with approval by this Court in Deepak Pahwa etc. v. Lt. Governor of Delhi Ors., [1985] (1) S.C.R. 588 even though in the above decision the Court found that it was not necessary to say anything about the post-notification delay. We are of the view that in the facts and circumstances of this case the post-notification delay of nearly one year is not by itself sufficient to hold that the decision taken by the State Government under section 17(1) and (4) of the Act at the time of the issue of the notification under section 4(1) of the Act was ei ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... arable land by applying the urgency clause. The mere omission to refer expressly section 17(1-A) of the Act in the notification cannot be considered to be fatal in this case as long as the Government had the power in that sub-section to take lands other than waste and arable lands also by invoking the urgency clause. Whenever power under section 17(1) is invoked the Government automatically becomes entitled to take possession of land other than waste and arable lands by virtue of sub-section (1-A) of section 17 without further declaration where the acquisition is for sanitary improvement or planned development. In the present case the acquisition is for planned development. We do not, therefore find any substance in the above contention. It is, however, argued by the learned counsel for the respondents that many of the persons from whom lands have been acquired are also persons without houses or shop sites and if they are to be thrown out of their land they would be exposed to serious prejudice. Since the land is being acquired for providing residential accommodation to the people of Meerut those who are being expropriated on account of the acquisition proceedings woul ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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