TMI Blog1978 (11) TMI 160X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t no residential accommodation to live in the City of Jaipur. That being so Sub-clause (6) of Art 226 of the Constitution provides a blanket prohibition for grant of any interim order, whether by way of injunction or stay or in any other manner, which will have the effect of delaying action for the execution of work and project of public utility and the acquisition of the disputed property for such execution by the Government or any corporation owned or controlled by the Government. 3. Mr. Birmiwal, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner has submitted that the acquisition of this land is not for 'public utility'. He also contends that only paper possession has been taken by the Urban Improvement Trust and the Housing Board but in fact the possession is still of the petitioner who has constructed roads and invested huge money on the improvement of the land although no houses have been constructed so far. 4. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant documents produced by both the parties, and the case law cited by them. 5. For the decision of the stay application reliance is placed by the learned counsel for the petitioner o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to and it was argued that it must be for public at large and not a section of public only. 8. Mr. Garg appearing for the Housing Board of Rajasthan in reply submitted that the housing activity of the Housing Board which is State owned Corporation is meant for providing roof to roofless people of poor strata in the society and in the modern concept of public and social welfare, the construction of the housing colonies for providing housing accommodation at a fair reasonable price, is a project of great public utility. According to Mr. Garg the (term) 'public utility' used in Article 226(6) is not to be interpreted to have a limited meaning of what is given in some dictionaries or up to the public utility service as defined in the industrial law but it is to be interpreted to mean any work or project which has got its utility in terms of public. 9. Dr. Tewari and Mr. J. S. Rastogi also adopted the submission of Mr. Garg and submitted that Sub-clause (6) of Article 226 is a complete bar to grant of any stay in those cases where any delay is likely to be caused in the execution or acquisition of any project or work of public utility. 10. Mr. Garg also submitted that th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ses it. 14. If a road or bridge or railway or telephone is used, the entire public would never use it but only what (that) public which would go in railway, would utilise the railway services, which would go on road, would utilise road service, like bridge etc. and who have got telephone facilities, would utilise telephone services. A villager living in a distant place where there is no P. C. O. or telephone, can never utilise telephone services and an Adivasi starving and struggling for his two square meals, can never utilise the railway services, living in a distant village and having no financial resources of travelling in railway. 15. The land acquisition can be made for construction of roads, for construction of dams, for construction of railway line, government offices and for power house of the electricity board or planned housing schemes implementation for the Housing Board Corporation. It is difficult to understand that if the acquisition is made for constructing a telephone line or telephone office, then it would be for public utility, but if it is made for constructing a road and house for implementation of the housing scheme by Housing Corporation then it would ce ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t there is no private or personal interest in the utilisation provided by this scheme which is wholly or solely, entirely and fully by public as represented by the Housing Board and of the public and for the public. 19. In the Rajasthan case of Thakur Amar Singhji v. State of Rajasthan, AIR 1955 SC 504, resumption of land under the Rajasthan Land Reforms and Resumption of Jagirs Act was held to be for public purpose because the ultimate object of it was for utilisation of this land for various public objects like the allotment of land to the landless etc. 20. In State of Bombay v. Bhanji Munji, AIR 1955 SC 41, house for the homeless was treated as a public purpose. In H. p. Khandelwal v. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1955 All 12, rehabilitation of refugees was termed as public purpose, though it would certainly mean a section of the people only. In Shazad Khan v. Jhallu Singh, AIR 1955 Madh B 146, acquisition for carrying out schemes of land reforms was treated as a public purpose. As already discussed above, I do not find any distinction between the use of the word public in relation to purpose and utility. If the purpose is public then it would be utilised for 'public' ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd and businessmen cannot utilise the irrigation facilities provided by the irrigation canal or irrigation dam or irrigation project but due to that irrigation canal or irrigation dam would not cease to be a public utility. Again, electricity project can only be utilised by those citizens or towns where the electricity of that project is made available and that too, to only limited consumers to whom electricity connections are given or who can afford to take electricity connections if it is offered to them. That would not detract the electricity services from being of public utility. The same is the case of railways, telephones etc. As held the Housing Board or the planned development of the urban area of Jaipur City would be utilised and be of utilisation to the general public in generic sense but in narrow sense it would certainly be utilised only by those members of people who would get allotment by lottery or otherwise or who would pass through those roads constructed there or would go and play in the gardens or would send their children to the schools constructed, if any, in that area. 23. In Corpus Juris Vol. 20 Article 30 pages 552-553 it is observed that some courts have ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ncept of public utility to a narrow degree which was never intended to be by the Legislature and, therefore, it would make it nugatory for most of the public utility projects, schemes and works. 28. As I have explained above, I have not got the slightest doubt that the interpretation which I am giving to public utility is only rational interpretation possible and, therefore, with due respect to the learned Judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, I am of the view that correct meaning of the public utility would be as mentioned above and the land acquisition for Housing Board project would come within Sub-clause (6) of Article 226 of the Constitution. 29. I am not inclined to attach any importance to the use of the word 'public utility' and not 'public purpose' as pointed out by the Andhra Pradesh by reference to Article 31(2) of the Constitution. In this view of the matter, I am of the opinion that the present case squarely falls within the blanket prohibition provided again the grant of stay and injunction under Article 226 of the Constitution by Sub-clause (6) of it. The present stay petition, therefore, comes within prohibitory degree and is liable to be di ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
