Judgement

ALAGIRISWAMI, J.:- The Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act, 1905 is impugned in these petitions as unconstitutional and void. Notices have been found issued to the petitioners under Section 6 of that Act in order to evict them from a certain piece of land claimed to be Government land. The challenge to the constitutional validity of the Act is based solely on the decision of this Court in Northern India Caterers v. State of Punjab, (1967) 3 SCR 309. In that case the validity of the Punjab Public Premises and Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act, 1959 was under consideration. The State had leased its premises to the appellant therein for running a hotel and when the lease expired called upon him to hand over vacant possession of the premises. On the appellant failing to do so the Collector issued a notice under Section 4 of the Punjab Act requiring the appellant to show cause why an order of eviction should not be passed under Section 5. This Court while holding that "there is an intelligible diffentia between occupiers and that the classification has a reasonable relation to the object of the Act and does not offend Article 14" also held that "Section 5 of the Act confers an additional remedy over and above the remedy by way of suit and thereby violates Art.14 by providing two alternative remedies to the Government and in leaving it to the unguided discretion of the Collector to resort to one or to the other and to pick and choose some of those in occupation of public properties and premises for the application of the more drastic procedure under Section 5". Two of the learned Judges who constituted the Bench, Hidayatullah and Bachawat, JJ. however held that "the unauthorised occupant is not denied equal protection of the laws merely because the Government has the option of proceeding against him either by way of a suit or under the Act."

2. The Tamil Nadu Act is entitled "an Act to provide measures for checking unauthorized occupation of lands which are the properties of Government. "Section 2 of the Act defines the property of Government as :

"2. (1) All public roads, streets, lanes and paths, the bridges, ditches dikes and fences, on or besides the same, the bed of the sea and of harbours and creeks below high water mark, and of rivers, streams, nalas, lakes and tanks and all backwaters, canals and water courses, and all standing and flowing water, and all lands, wherever situated, save in so far as the same are the property-

(a) of any zamindar, poligar, mittadar, jagirdar, shrotriemdar or inamdar or any person claiming through or holding under any of them, or

(b) of any person paying shist, kattubadi, jodi, poruppu or quit-rent to any of the aforesaid persons, or

(c) of any person holding under ryotwari tenure, including that of a janmi in the Cudalur taluk of the Nilgiri district and to the transferred territory or in any way subject to the payment of land-revenue direct to Government, or

(d) of any other registered holder of land in proprietary right, or

(e) of any other person holding land under grant from the Government otherwise than by way of licence,

and, as to lands, save also in so far as they are temple site or owned as house site or backyard,

are and are hereby declared to be the property of Government except as may be otherwise provided by and law for the time being in force, subject always to all rights of way and other public rights and to the natural and easement rights of other land-owners, and to all customary rights legally subsisting.

(2) All public roads and streets vested in any local authority shall, for the purpose of this Act, be deemed to be the property of Government."

Section 3 lays down that any person who shall unauthorizedly occupy any land which is the property of Government shall be liable to pay the full assessment on the land. S.5 provides for further payment by such a person of penalty. S.6 provides for eviction of such a person and for forfeiture of any crop or other product raised on the l