Occupation of premises for educational purposes deemed unauthorized without authority according to Public Premises Act, justifying eviction despite claims of longstanding occupancy.

JUDGMENT :

SANDEEP V. MARNE, J.

1. By this Petition, Petitioner challenges the judgment and order dated 30 January 2020 passed by the learned Principal District Judge, Nashik dismissing Regular Civil Appeal No. 233 of 2019 and thereby confirming the eviction order dated 19 August 2019 directing eviction of the Petitioner from the premises of Railways under the provisions of Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants), 1971 (Public Premises Act).

2. Briefly stated, facts of the case are that for catering to the needs of children of railway employees working at Manmad, the then Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIP) permitted the godown of Manmad Workshop to be used for setting up a school at nominal rent of Rs.1/-. Accordingly, the school was started in the godown premises near Railway Station on 3 July 1922 under the name Great Indian Peninsula Indian High School. A grant of Rs.80 was given by the GIP per mensem towards expenses of staff of the school. On 27 May 1926, GIP granted Rs.100/- for setting up a garden at the school. Grant of Rs.1,000 was also sanctioned for library and reading room for teachers, gymnasium etc. On 7 June 1929, Bridge Engineer, Manmad was nominated as ex-officio Chairman of the Committee of the School. On 15 January 1934, society under name Indian Education Society was registered which was headed by Senior Railway Officer as President. According to the Petitioner, General Manager of GIP Railways waved the condition for execution of agreement between the society and railways. After coming into effect of the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, 1950, the Society was registered as a Public Trust with the name Rashtriya Shikshan Sanstha. The name of the School was later changed as ‘Rashtriya Central Railway High School’. In 1975, the School received government approval for commencement of Junior College, (11^th and 12^th grades). On 23 February 1995, bye-laws of the society were approved by the Charity Commissioner by sanctioning the Change Report.

3. This is how the Petitioner contends that the School is running in the Railway premises since the year 1922. On 10 July 2018, Estate Officer of the Central Railways issued notice for eviction of the society alleging that occupation of land and building by it was unauthorised. The Society filed Regular Civil Suit No. 293 of 2018 in the Court of Civil Judge Senior Division, Malegaon seeking injunction. In the suit, application for temporary injunction was rejected by order dated 6 December 2018, inter-alia on the ground of bar of jurisdiction of Civil Court. The Petitioners filed Misc. Civil Appeal No.34 of 2018 before the District Court which was dismissed on 31 December 2018. The Petitioners filed Writ Petition No. 3902 of 2019 challenging the order of rejection of temporary injunction, which was disposed of by order dated 7 June 2019 granting liberty to the Railways to initiate proceedings under the provisions of Public Premises Act. Accordingly, Estate Officer of Railways issued notice under Section 4 of the Public Premises Act to the Petitioner on 12 June 2019. Petitioner submitted reply to the notice. The Estate Officer passed order dated 19 August 2019 directing eviction of the Petitioner on the grounds of the land belonging to Railways, School being situated at a distance of 3 mtrs from foot-over-bridge and 10 meters from railway track and there being no affiliation of any railway official with the Petitioner- Society. Petitioner filed Regular Civil Appeal No. 233 of 2019 before the learned District Judge who has proceeded to dismiss the same by order dated 30 January 2020. Aggrieved by the order passed by the learned Principal District Judge, the Petitioner has filed the present Petition.

4. By order dated 12 February 2020, this Court recorded statement on behalf of the Railways not to execute the eviction order. The said statement was continued from time to time. During the course of hearing of the Petition on 2 June 2020, when Covid-19 lockdown restricti