JUDGMENT :

Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. These appeals arise from a judgment of a Division Bench of the High Court of Calcutta dated 9 September 2013, by which it affirmed the judgment of a Single Judge in a Letters Patent Appeal.

3. The issue is whether the respondent is entitled to employment by the appellant in lieu of the acquisition of lands. Eastern Coalfields Limited is a subsidiary of Coal India Limited and is a government company within the meaning of Section 617 of the erstwhile Companies Act 1956. An expansion scheme was proposed for the Sonepur Bazari Open Cast Project which is located in Raniganj Coalfield in West Bengal. A meeting took place between the representatives of the Company, persons whose lands were acquired, and the state government. In pursuance of the discussions, a tripartite agreement appears to have been arrived at, under which a person whose lands had been acquired would be entitled to employment by Eastern Coalfields if the acquired land-holding was at least 2 acres. Though the Tripartite agreement has not been placed on the record, the pleadings and submissions before the High Court and this court have proceeded on this position being undisputed. The authorities on 8 November 1991, prepared a rehabilitation list of thirty-seven eligible candidates from whom more than 2 acres of land was acquired in pursuance of what is described as a “one time package deal/tripartite decision”. The name of the respondent was not included in this list.

4. The respondent founded his claim for employment on a certificate issued by the Land Acquisition Collector on 14 January 1993 specifying the extent of land of the respondent. The certificate, inter alia, specified that the land held by the respondent No. 1 in his own name was comprised in two plots, namely, plot No 1945 (admeasuring 0.095 acres) and plot No 1948 (admeasuring 0.205 acres). Thus the landholding of the respondent in his own name was 0.300 acres. However, Collector’s certificate contained a reference to the names of certain other persons, including relatives of the respondent, who had executed affidavits in favour of the respondent. After taking those affidavits into consideration, the holding of the respondent was computed at 2.01 acres. However, as stated earlier, it is evident from the Collector’s certificate that the actual holding of the respondent in his own name was in respect of plot Nos 1945 and 1948 admeasuring 0.300 acres.

5. The Respondent’s writ petition seeking employment in view of the rehabilitation employment scheme was disposed on 14 October 1996 by directing the appellant to consider the claim of the respondent. The Personnel Manager of the Sonepur Bazari Area rejected the claim of the Respondent on the ground that he only held 2.01 acres of land, which was lesser than the 2.04 acres of minimum holding of acquired land required under the rehabilitation employment scheme. This led to the institution of a writ petition before the High Court. An affidavit in opposition was filed to the writ petition on behalf of the appellant. In the affidavit, it was categorically stated that:

“The land of the petitioner no.1 was in possession of 0.205 acres as per the Land Acquisition Certificate issued by the Land Acquisition Collector, Burdwan on 14th January, 1993. The eligibility criteria for consideration of employment is that each of the land looser must have 2 acres of land but in the instant case admittedly writ petitioner possessed 0.205 acres of land which is far less than the eligibility criteria. It will be evident from the annexure 'P-5' to the writ petition that the name of the petitioner appeared at SI. No. 40 in the rehabilitation list and such list was not meant for providing employment as per eligibility criteria. The petitioner cannot claim any benefit and/or advantage for employment on the basis of the list bein