IMPORTANT POINTS
In allotting natural resources adequate compensation should be ensured.
Alleviating plight of students uprooted for no fault of the school is in public interest.
An executive action would not be arbitrary merely because the action is not explicitly stated to have been taken for a particular reason or based on a particular principle which in itself is reasonable. Court should see whether such a reasonable principle is discernible from the facts and circumstances of the case.
Allotment of land to profit earning organization, even in public interest, cannot be at concessional rate or free of cost.

JUDGMENT :

Mohan M. Shantanagoudar, J.

The judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir at Jammu in L.P.A. (OW) No. 38/2008 and L.P.A. (OW) No. 39/2008 dated 01.04.2009 is the subject matter of these appeals.

2. The brief facts leading to these appeals are that the Appellant J.S. Luthra Academy (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Academy’), an educational institution, initially was situated on a Wakf property in Jammu. Vide order dated 27.12.1995 of the authority constituted under the J&K Wakf Act, 1978, the said educational institution was ordered to be evicted from the Wakf property. Against the said order, the Academy approached the Jammu & Kashmir Special Tribunal, and an interim order of stay on eviction was granted by the tribunal on 09.01.1996. During the interregnum, the Academy made representations to the State Government requesting for allotment of a piece of land at any place mentioned in the representations for shifting and running the school. The concerned minister in the meeting dated 14.1.1998 considered the question of allotment of land in favour of the Academy. Subsequently, a note was prepared by the Managing Director of the J & K Housing Board on 25.1.1999, proposing that the Board had 4 kanals of land in Sector 2 of Channi Himmat, Jammu earmarked for schools which could be considered for allotment to the Appellant at Rs. 8,00,000/- per kanal. In a subsequent meeting on 29.4.1999 after completion of formalities, four kanals in Sector 2 of Channi Himmat were alloted to the Academy at Rs. 8,00,000/- per kanal on lease for 40 years and the Academy was directed to deposit 50% of the said amount, the remaining amount to be deposited subsequently. In a meeting dated 28.6.2000, a decision was taken by the J & K Housing Board in pursuance of the orders of the Chief Minister, that two kanals of land would be allotted to the Academy at the rate of Rs. 8,00,000/- per kanal and the other two kanals free of cost. Further, in a Cabinet meeting dated 18.8.2000, it was decided that the Jammu Development Authority was to be compensated for the free allocation of land in the form of allotment of alternate land to the Authority. The allotment of land to the Academy was sanctioned by the Principal Secretary, Government of J&K, vide letter dated 24.8.2000. The Academy finally paid a total of Rs.16,00,000/- for two kanals of land and obtained two more kanals free of cost. A lease deed was executed, and possession was handed over on 12.12.2001. The Academy constructed the school building thereon and the school is being run on this premises, having shifted from the wakf property.

3. The residents of Channi Himmat vide Writ Petition No. 1093 of 2002 questioned the allotment made in favour of the Academy, on the ground that the piece of land was meant for a playground but the same was allotted to the Academy in violation of the original scheme and plan of the Channi Himmat Housing Colony. One Mr. Naresh Kumar, a proprietor of the United Public School situated at Channi Himmat, filed a writ petition being O.W.P. No. 10/2003, questioning the allotment made in favour of the Academy on the ground that the property ought to have been auctioned by the Government, so that he could have also applied for the allotment of the plot, which he required for the upgradation of his school to the higher secondary level. Both the writ petitions were clubbed, heard and decided together by the learned Single Judge of the High Court and were dismissed. However, the Division Bench by the impugned judgment set aside the order of the Single Judge and allowed the writ petitions and consequently quashed the allotment made in favour of the Academy with the following observations:

“The board is directed to hold public auction of the land for the purpose of leasing the same out on the same terms and conditions it had leased it to the private respondent, except that the premium thereof shall be fixed at the highest price to be obtained at such au