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2011 (5) Supreme 466
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
G.S. Singhvi and H. L. Dattu , JJ.
Devendra Singh & Ors. — Appellants
versus
State of U.P. & Ors. — Respondents
Civil Appeal No.6293 of 2011
(Arising out of Special Leave Petition (C) No. 15151 of 2011)
Decided on : 3-8-2011
Land Acquisition Act, 1894- Sections 17(1) and 17(4) - Appeal against Judgment and Order passed by High Court whereby, writ petition filed by appellants challenging acquisition of their land for construction of District Jail by invoking Sections 17(1) and 17(4) of Act, 1894 was dismissed -District Magistrate, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, had sent a proposal to Principal Secretary, Home/Prisons, Government of U.P. for acquisition of land for construction of District Jail on 24.01.2003 which was undoubtedly a public purpose-After the lapse of 5 years in year 2008, State Government asked District Magistrate to trace availability of lands for acquisition for construction of the District Jail in the proximity to District Headquarters and further requested Selection Committee to recommend the land suitable for the said purpose- Thereafter, Selection Committee recommended acquisition of said land as suitable for the construction of Jail but it took two years for State Government to issue the said Notifications under Section 4 and Section 6 respectively, thereby invoking urgency provisions under Section 17 of Act- The series of events showed lethargy and lackadaisical attitude of State Government- Respondents held not justified in invoking the urgency provisions under Section 17 of the Act, thereby depriving appellants of their valuable right to raise objections and opportunity of hearing before the authorities in order to persuade them that their property may not be acquired- Impugned Judgment and Order of High Court set aside-Appeal allowed. (Paras 11 to 15)
Facts of the Case :
Present Appeal has been filed against Judgment and Order passed by High Court whereby, writ petition filed by appellants challenging acquisition of their land for construction of District Jail by invoking Sections 17(1) and 17(4) of Act, 1894 was dismissed.
Findings of the Court :
The Court held that District Magistrate, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, had sent a proposal to Principal Secretary, Home/Prisons, Government of U.P. for acquisition of land for construction of District Jail on 24.01.2003 which was undoubtedly a public purpose. After the lapse of 5 years in year 2008, State Government asked District Magistrate to trace availability of lands for acquisition for construction of the District Jail in the proximity to District Headquarters and further requested Selection Committee to recommend the land suitable for the said purpose. Thereafter, Selection Committee recommended acquisition of said land as suitable for the construction of Jail but it took two years for State Government to issue the said Notifications under Section 4 and Section 6 respectively, thereby invoking urgency provisions under Section 17 of Act. The series of events showed lethargy and lackadaisical attitude of State Government. Respondents held not justified in invoking the urgency provisions under Section 17 of the Act, thereby depriving appellants of their valuable right to raise objections and opportunity of hearing before the authorities in order to persuade them that their property may not be acquired. Impugned Judgment and Order of High Court set was aside. Appeal was allowed.
JUDGMENT
H.L. Dattu, J. —
Leave granted.
2). This appeal, by special leave, is directed against the Judgment and Order dated 08.10.2010 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 61903 of 2010 whereby, the writ petition filed by the appellants challenging the acquisition of their land for construction of District Jail by invoking Sections 17(1) and 17(4) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) was dismissed.
3). The facts of the present appeal are as follows:-
The District Magistrate, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, had sent a proposal to the Principal Secretary, Home/Prisons Section 4, Government of U.P. for acquisition of land situated at Amroha- Naugawan Sadat Road for the construction of District Jail vide letter dated 24.01.2003. After the gap of 5 years, the Special Secretary, Prisons Administration and Reforms, Government of U.P., had requested the District Magistrate to find the available lands for acquisition, for the said purpose, in the proximity of the District Head Quarters vide letter dated 16.01.2008. Subsequently, the District Magistrate traced and informed the availability of such lands in village Dasipur and other nearby villages for possible acquisition to the Special Secretary vide letter dated 25.2.2008. Thereafter, the Special Secretary directed the Selection Committee to inspect the available lands regarding the feasibility of their acquisition for the construction of Jail vide letter dated 22.04.2008. Accordingly, the Selection Committee, after conducting detailed spot inspection of the available lands, found and recommended that the lands at village Dulhar Sant Prasad were suitable for construction of Jail on 05.05.2008. In this backdrop, the respondent had issued a notification dated 05.03.2010 under Section 4 read with Section 17(4) of the Act for acquisition of 20.870 hectares of land at village Dulhapur Sant Prasad, Tehsil Amroha, Jyotiba Phule Nagar for public purpose of construction of District Jail. The same was published in the local newspapers on 26.03.2010. The relevant part of the notification is extracted below:
“UTTAR PRADEHS SHASAN KARAGAR PRASHASAN EVEM SUDHAR ANUBHAG - 4
The Governor is pleased to order the publication of the following English translation of Notification No. 443/22-4-2010-101 (b) 2000 dated 05 March, 2010 for general information:
NOTIFICATION
No. 443/22-4-2010-101 (b) 2000
Lucknow: Dated 05 March 2010
Under subsection (1) of section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (Act No. 1 of 1984 (sic.)), the Governor is pleased to notify for general information that the land mentioned in the schedule below is needed for the public purpose namely, for construction of the District Jail in District Jyotiba Phule Nagar.
Being of opinion that provisions of subsection (1) of section 17 of the said Act are applicable to the said land in as much as the said land is urgently required for construction of the District Jail in District Jyotiba Phule Nagar and that in view of the pressing urgency it is as well necessary to eliminate to delay likely to be caused by an enquiry under section 5-A of the said Act the Governor is further pleased to direct, under subsection (4) of section 17 of said Act, that the provisions of section 5-A shall not apply.”
4). Since the appellants’ land was also included in the notification, they made representations dated 07.04.2010 and 20.08.2010 to the Land Acquisition Officer, the District Magistrate, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, the Chief Minister and the Home Secretary, Government of U.P. with the request that their land may not be acquired as they had raised construction of houses, tube wells and lands are under cultivation. They also suggested the availability of large tracts of alternative lands with no construction and irrigation facility situated within one Kilometer towards North. However, the concerned authorities did not reply to these representations of the appellants. Subsequently, the appellants, agg
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