TMI Blog1983 (8) TMI 309X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e official gazette wherein also it was directed that objections could be filed within 30 days of the publication of the said notification in writing before the Land Acquisition Collector of the State Electricity Board, Patiala. 3. The present writ petition was preferred to challenge the aforesaid acquisition primarily on the Around that there had been no public notice of the substance of the notification published in the gazette either simultaneously or thereafter, and indeed herein the admitted position being that the purported publication within the locality had been done two days prior to the date of the publication of the notification itself, namely; March 21, 1980. Since reliance an behalf of the petitioners was placed on an earlier judgment of this Court, the writ petition was admitted to hearing by the Division Bench. 4. When this writ petition came up for hearing before my learned brother S. P. Goyal, J. and myself a frontal challenge to the correctness of the view in Battan Singh v. State of Punjab 1981 PLJ 375 was raised and in view of the significance of the question involved, the matter was referred for an authoritative decision by the Full Bench. 5. Inevitably ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ; means to declare or to give notice and is to be contrasted with a mere intent or a cloistered order and thus means something which has been publicized to the citizenry at large, This seems to flow from its ordinary. dictionary meaning as also from its use in common parlance. 7-A. Again, as a term of art also the word 'notification' implies the widest publication to the people generally. Indeed, over the years, it has become a synonym with the same being published in the official gazette or authorized media or in any manner prescribed by the statute. Reference in this connection may be made to the use of the word 'notification' in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. By implication Section 78(1) thereof seems to draw a distinction betwixt an order and a notification of the Government, Ss. 37. 81 and 114(e) of the said Act are in a way also instructive in this context. It seems to follow that the issuance of a notification is in the eye of law either notice or imputed knowledge of its contents to the citizens in general. This obviously cannot be so in the case of a mere order. In the analogous provisions of Section 2(36) of the Punjab General Clauses Act. 1898, the wor ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... xx .........It may be mentioned that this Government order was cancelled by a later Government order dt. July 7, I958 which was also not published. Now a notification' under S. 4 of the Forest Act is required to be published in the Gazette and unless it is so published, it is of no effect. The notification of March 23, 1955 was published in the Gazette and was therefore a proper notification. It is also not disputed that in view of Section 21 of the U. P. General Clauses Act (No. 1 of 1904), a notification issued under S. 4 could have been cancelled or modified but it could be done in the like manner and subject to the like sanction and conditions i. e. by notification in the gazette. The Government order of Dec., 1956 therefore cannot amount to excluding anything from the notification issued under S. 4 for it was never published. it was a mere departmental instruction by Government to its Officers which was later withdrawn. The notification therefore stands as it was originally issued and the petitioner cannot claim any benefit of the Government order of Dec., 1956, which was later cancelled....................... A similar result flows from the observations in Empero ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y to precede the public notice of the substance of such a notification later in the locality. 12. In support of the above view. It was plausibly argued on behalf of the writ petitioners that in case there is a variation or a discrepancy betwixt the original order or the draft notification and that what is actually published in the official gazette, it is the latter which should have primacy. This stance seems to be sound on principle. As held above, the notification is. what has in terms been published in the official gazette and not what may have been either earlier intended or even recorded in a draft notification but not actually so published. The whole thrust of the law in S 4(1) of the Act is to give the widest publicity and to plant with knowledge the citizens in general and all those persons in particular, who are interested in or affected by the acquisition. Consequently, it is the publication in the official gazette which is of a paramount nature and the word such, is more appropriately related thereto in the context of the publication in the locality. 13. One must now turn to the precedent within this Court which as already noticed, had necessitated the reference to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e of compliance with the provisions of S. 4(1). The aforesaid observations would again indicate the sequence of the publication and the locality notice and it would appear that the notification in the official gazette must precede the public notice of the substance of such notification in the locality and not vice versa. The same result flows from the Ful1 Bench decision of this Court in Rattan Singh v. State of Punjab. which inevitably had followed the final court. 14. Even as regards prejudice, it would appear that this also might well result. in cases of considerable delay betwixt prior public notice given in the locality and subsequent publication in the gazette. This matter was rightly though briefly adverted to in Battan Singh's case (1981 Punj LJ 375) (supra) in the following terms:-- ....It is therefore, obvious that only the substance of the order passed by the State Government was published in the locality. Even if some of the citizens a came to know on that date that their land was likely to be acquired, the maximum they could do was to make a search about that order in the Official Gazette. they could treat the munadi made by the Patwari as non est...... ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... legal casuistry pinned upon the date of the publication in the gazette in one case and the date of the order. in the other to build a some what tenuous argument However, in rightly. rejecting, the same the Bench proceeded to make certain wide-ranging observations. and observed that according to the routine in Government offices, the notification takes effect from the date of issue which must usually take some time before it can be actually printed in the gazette. Obviously the mere practice or routine in Government offices (if any at all) cannot be conclusive in determining the law. It is otherwise plain that the matter was not adequately canvassed and neither principle nor precedence was cited in support of the observations made. It may be highlighted that herein we are specifically concerned with sets which the legislature enjoins to be effectuated by notification alone and not merely where a notification is re sorted to as a convenient mode of giving publicity. With the greatest humility arid deference, if the observations in para 5 of the report in Kishori Lal's case (supra) are to be construed as any warrant for the proposition that publication in the official gazette is n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... en it was published in the gazette. The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners is fully supported by the decision in Battan Singh's case (supra) the ratio of which appears to be that unless the order passed by the State Government is Published in the official gazette it cannot be said to be a notification. 21. The answer to the question involved primarily depends am the interpretation of the word, notification in S. 4(1) of the Act which reads as under:-- 4(1). Whenever it appears to the appropriate Government that land in any locality is needed or is likely to be needed for any public purpose, 'a notification to that effect shall be published in the Official Gazette, and the Collector shall cause public notice of the substance of such notification to be given at the convenient places in the said locality. In support of his contention, the learned counsel for the petitioners has put forth two-fold argument, namely, that the decision of the government does not acquire the character of the notification till it is published in the official gazette and that the words, such notification in S. 4(1) refer to the notification as published in the offici ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion of seats under clause (e) of Section 14, the Government had to act by notification and under clause (36) of S. 2 of 'the Punjab General Clauses AM (Punjab Act No. 1 of 1898) 'notification' shall mean a notification published under proper authority in the Official Gazette, so that unless publication was made the notification could not be deemed to have taken effect. Clause (36) does not say that the notification shall have effect only from the date when it is published in the Official Gazette. All that it requires is such publication, and according to the routine in Government offices the notification takes effect from the date it is issued which must usually be some time before it can be actually printed in the Gazette. From a bare reading of the above observation it is evident that the Bench was of the view that a notification s complete and effective when it is drawn and signed by the proper authority and its publication in the Official Gazette is just a mode of notifying it to the general public and the persons concerned. 22. As regards the observations of the Supreme Court in Mahendra Lal Jaini's case (supra) it may be noticed that the same have to be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in the locality can only be made after it is published in the official gazette. What that section requires is. notification la to be published in the official gazette and its substance notified in the locality where the land is situate. This shows that a notification is that which is issued by the Government and the latter provisions only prescribe two modes of its publication. 24. The matter can be looked at from another point of view also namely that the publication of the substance of the notification in the locality before it is published in the official gazette, can under no circumstance be prejudicial to the landowners. The purpose of the publication of the substance of the notification in the locality is to notify to the landowners that the Government intends to acquire their land dl if the so desire they may file their written objections under S. 5A of the Act to the proposed acquisition. The limitation for filing of the objections starts from the publication of the notification in the official gazette and not from its publication in the locality. The prior publication of the substance of the notification in the locality, therefore, under no circumstance can be prejudici ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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