The State Government has a right to claim ownership of land and to serve a notice to quit on a person in possession without any legal right, and the service of a notice to quit is not a threat of executive action or forcible possession.

( 1 ) THIS is an application made by one Dhirendra Kumar Roy Chowdhury, as a member of an unincorporated society of persons known as the National Cricket Club, having its office at Eden Gardens, Calcutta. The facts are shortly as follows : There exists in the city of Calcutta, at a spot very near these Courts, an open space known as the Eden Gardens. In a part of the said Gardens there existed a cricket ground, which came into existence as far back as 1825. For a large number of years, and at the time when India attained independence, the cricket ground was in the* occupation of the Calcutta Cricket Club, the members whereof were mostly foreigners. After India attained independence, there was a move for taking over the lands and structures then in the possession of the Calcutta Cricket Club, and it appears that in or about 1950 an unincorporated association known as the National Cricket Club came into existence. The members of this Club raised a sum of about two lakhs and this was paid towards compensation received by the Calcutta Cricket Club, which, I am informed, has moved elsewhere. The National Cricket Club or the N. C. C. as it has come to be known, took possession of the lands and structures previously occupied by the C. C. C. Originally these consisted of a cricket ground and the Club premises with its furnitures, fittings and excise licence. Since then, sporadic attempts have been made to construct a stadium. Some stands have been constructed but it can scarcely merit the description of a stadium. It appears from the correspondence carried on between the Secretary of the N. C. C. and the Chief Minister of West Bengal, that what was contemplated was that the unincorporated association should be registered under the provisions of the Societies Registration Act, and the Government should execute a lease in favour of the registered society which would complete the construction of a stadium known as the Ranji Stadium, This fact is not disputed and appears clearly from the letter dated 20-11-1950 written by Mr. Pankaj Gupta to Dr. Roy, copy whereof is contained at p. 22 of Ex. A annexed to the affidavit affirmed by Rabindra Kumar Mitra on 22-4-1955. The correspondence and the relevant documents have been conveniently collected in Ex. A annexed to the said affidavit and I shall refer to the said Exhibit and to the pagination thereof. Before I enter into the details of the further events, I shall delineate shortly as to what happened. The unincorporated association did get itself registered and the certificate of registration is dated 31-1-1951 (p. 1 ). Draft leases were prepared, providing for the granting of a lease for 99 years to the said registered society. Thereafter, disputes commenced. Firstly, the dispute was with regard to the ownership of the Eden Gardens. Previous to the attainment of independence, the Gardens were undoubtedly held by the Centre. After independence, lands which were used for the purposes of the Union vested in the Union and lands which Were used for the purposes of the State, vested in the State. It appears that nobody paid any attention to the question as to the purposes for which the land in question was being used at the material point of time, and while the Union never abandoned its claim, a draft lease was prepared on the footing that the State of West Bengal would be the lessor, meaning thereby that the land had vested in the State. It appears from a letter addressed by the Government of India in its Ministry of Defence, to the Government of "west Bengal, dated 8-3-1951 (p. 85) that the Government of India had no objection to the site in question being leased to the National Cricket Club, on payment of an annual rent (nominal) of Re. 1/- for the erection of a cricket Stadium thereon. It is stated in that letter that the delegation of control over the Calcutta Maidan which included the Eden Gardens, by the Government of India to the Government of Bengal in 1921, did not operate as