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's Surplus Land Sale Void, Not Revived by Repeal:
In a significant ruling that clarifies the interplay between the and its , the has held that a sale of surplus land declared void under the original Act cannot be resurrected by the subsequent repeal. A division bench of Justice Saral Srivastava and Justice Sudhanshu Chauhan dismissed a petition filed by the , which had sought to validate its purchase of land in Bareilly that had been declared excess during ceiling proceedings.
The Legal Framework: Section 10(4) and the General Clauses Act
The core of the dispute revolved around Section 10(4) of the , which deems any transfer of excess vacant land made between the publication of a notification under Section 10(1) and the declaration under Section 10(3) to be . The court noted that the Repeal Act is silent on such transfers and therefore applied , which provides that a repeal does not affect the .
“Hence, it can be fairly held that if the transfer of surplus land by the landholder is deemed by operation of law as it existed on the date of transfer under the provisions of the Act, 1976, then the will not infuse life in the said lease, nor will it affect the operation of the enactment in so far as it declares the sale to be . Thus, the sale deed dated executed in favour of the petitioner is hit by the provisions of Section 10(4) of the Act, 1976.”
Why the Court Rejected the Petition
The had purchased a share of land from Mohd. Kamar in 1987, after issuing notices under Section 26 of the Act. However, the court found that at the time of the sale, notifications under Section 10(1) and 10(3) had already been published—on and respectively—rendering the sale of the 4,021.26 sq m of surplus land .
The court also rejected the society’s claim that it was unaware of the ceiling proceedings, noting that the sale deed itself referenced the Section 26 notices. The bench observed, “Under the circumstances, considering the conduct of the petitioner and the attempt made by it to mislead this Court, we are of the view that this is not a fit case to exercise our extraordinary powers under on the grounds of equity.”
Observations on
The petition was filed in , more than 37 years after the sale deed was executed. The court held that even if the petitioner had a valid claim, the would bar relief. It cited the rulings in and to support this conclusion.
Court’s Decision and Implications
The High Court dismissed the writ petition, holding that the petitioner had no over the surplus land and therefore lacked to challenge the ceiling proceedings. The court clarified that the sale deed was valid only to the extent of the 1,500 sq m that fell within the ceiling limit, but was for the remaining area.
“Once the sale deed dated executed in favour of the petitioner in respect of 4021.26 sq m. of land i.e. land in dispute is , hence, the petitioner has no right, title or interest over the same. Thus, there is no occasion for us to delve into the questions of alleged irregularities in proceedings under the Act, 1976 at the instance of the petitioner, who has no locus to question the same.”
The ruling reinforces the principle that void transfers under the repealed Act cannot be revived, and that purchasers of surplus land from declarants cannot take advantage of procedural irregularities in the ceiling proceedings. The decision is likely to impact similar pending cases where parties seek to rely on the Repeal Act to validate otherwise void transactions.
