Judgment

Dalveer Bhandari, J. —

1.The appellants aggrieved by the Order of the High Court of Judicature at Jabalpur dated 26.8.2003 in Writ Petition Nos.6269 and 27171 of 2003 have preferred this appeal with the prayer that the respondent State of Madhya Pradesh be restrained from imposing and collecting any premium under the impugned rule 14 of the Notification dated 24.1.2002.

2.Brief facts giving rise to the present appeal are recapitulated as under :

The respondent State of Madhya Pradesh has imposed premium at flat rate irrespective of use and purpose of the diverted land or any relation whatsoever with the land revenue imposed on the land. According to the appellants, the impugned rule 14 of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code,1959 (for short “the Code”) is arbitrary, unreasonable and as such violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. The imposition of premium under rule 14 has been assailed, therefore, it would be imperative to refer to the relevant provisions regarding imposition of premium as under :

“IMPOSITION OF PREMIUM

13.When the land assessed for any non-agricultural purpose is diverted to any agricultural purpose no premium shall be imposed under Sub-section (