R. Rajashekar Vs. Trinity House Building Co-operative Society [Supreme Court of India, 15-09-2016]IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION [V.GOPALA GOWDA]AND[ADARSH KUMAR GOEL] JJ. September 15, 2016 CIVIL APPEAL NOS.9091-9119 OF 2016(Arising Out of SLP (C) Nos. 13656-13684 of 2004)R. RAJASHEKAR AND ORS. â¦APPELLANTSVs.TRINITY HOUSE BUILDING CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY AND ORS. â¦RESPONDENTSWITHCIVIL APPEAL NOS.9120-9148 OF 2016 (Arising Out of SLP (C) Nos.18090-18118 of 2004)ANDCIVIL APPEAL NOS.9149-9152 OF 2016 (Arising Out of SLP (C) Nos.23336-23339 of 2004) For Petitioner(s) Mr. R.S. Hegde, Adv. Mrs. Farhat Jahan Rehmani, Adv. Mr. Shanti Prakash, Adv. Mr. Rajeev Singh,Adv. Mr. Basava Prabhu Patil, Sr. Adv. Mr. Anirudh Sanganeria, Adv. Mr. Chinmay Deshpande, Adv. Mr. Amjid Maqbool, Adv. Mr. A. S. Bhasme,Adv. For Respondent(s) Mr. E. C. Vidya Sagar,Adv. Mr. Kartik Seth, Adv. Mr. Subhash Chandra Sagar, Adv. Ms. Jennifer John, Adv. Mr. Irshad Ahmad,Adv. Mr. V. N. Raghupathy,Adv. Mr. Kunal Verma,Adv. Ms. Yugandhara P. Jha, Adv. Mr. Prasanna Mohan, Adv. Mr. Pulkit Tare, Adv. Ms. Ruchi Sahay, Adv. J U D G M E N T V. GOPALA GOWDA, J. Leave granted in all the Special Leave Petitions. 2.The present appeals arise out of the common impugned judgment and order dated 06.05.2004 in Writ Appeal Nos. 7543-7557 of 1996 and connected matters passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka, wherein the judgment and order dated 12.07.1996, passed by the learned Single Judge of the High Court in Writ Petition Nos. 8188-8201 of 1989 and other connected petitions quashing the acquisition notifications issued under Sections 4(1) and 6(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894(hereinafter referred to as the âL.A. Actâ) was set aside. 3.The relevant facts which are required for us to appreciate the rival legal contentions advanced on behalf of the parties are stated in brief hereunder: The lands involved in all these acquisition proceedings are agricultural lands belonging to poor agriculturalists. On 09.01.1984, Trinity House Building Co-Operative Society (hereinafter referred to as the ârespondent-Societyâ) was registered with the object of providing sites for building residential houses for its members. On 12.03.1985, the said society, represented by its President and Vice President entered into an agreement with M/S Srinivasa Enterprises, represented by its proprietor, Mr. S. Rangarajan. The said agreement was entered into between the parties essentially for getting the lands acquired in favour of the respondent-Society. The relevant clauses of the agreement will be extracted in the reasoning portion of the judgment. As per the agreement, a contract of agency was created in favour of Mr. S. Rangarajan to act as a middleman between the respondent-Society and the State Government to get the lands mentioned therein acquired in favour of the respondent-Society. 4.It is also an undisputed fact that between 06.05.1987 and 12.06.1989, the land owners of the lands mentioned in the agreement dated 12.03.1985 have also executed power of attorney(s) in favour of Mr. S. Rangarajan. The state government of Karnataka by its order dated 23.06.1986, fixed the last date as 30.06.1984 for the registration of the societies. The respondent-Society finds a place at Serial No. 43 in the annexure attached to the above government order. 5.By way of order dated 30.04.1987, the state government of Karnataka constituted a âThree Men Committeeâ to verify the claims of land for acquisition being made by the various societies, and a State level Co-ordination Committee also was constituted by the Government to inquire into the affairs of the society before recommending their claim for acquisition. 6.The case of the respondent-Society came up for consideration before the State Level Coordination Committee on 25.09.1987. The State Level Coordination Committee, without application of mind to the facts of the case, cleared the case of the respondent-Society for acquisition of lands in its favour. The relevant portion pertaining to the Society reads thus:
On 10.03.1988, the Additional Registrar of Co-Operative Societies, Bangalore passed an order under Section 64 of the Karnataka Co-operative Societies Act, 1959, to inquire into certain allegations made against 98 House Building Co-Operative Societies of Bangalore City, including the respondent-Society, and appointed Sri G.V.K. Rao, the then Controller of Weights and Measures to investigate into the allegations of irregularities and malpractices against the concerned societies. 7. In the meanwhile, on 15.04.1988, an agreement was entered into between the state government of Karnataka and the respondent-Society as required under Section 39 read with Section 41 of Part VII of the L.A. Act. The relevant portions of the Agreement are extracted hereunder:
8. Subsequently, on 09.05.1988, the report of the G.V.K. Rao Committee was submitted to the Government for its action. The Report found irregularities in the manner in which the respondent-Society has granted membership to its members. It was stated in the report that the Vice President of the respondent-Society accepted these lapses and even attempted to justify the same. 9. Even after the G.V.K. Rao Committee submitted its report, the state government of Karnataka proceeded to issue the preliminary notification under Section 4(1) of the L.A. Act, which was published in the official gazette dated 09.06.1988, proposing to acquire the lands in question to the extent of 92 acres 38 guntas in Avalahalli and Herohalli villages of Yelahanka Hobli, Bangalore North Taluk, Bangalore District in favour of the respondent-Society. 10. Subsequently, around 33 Objection Petitions were filed before the Land Acquisition Officer by the landowners, which were all rejected under the inquiry conducted by him under Section 5-A(2) of the L.A. Act. The objections filed by some of the landowners were rejected by land acquisition officer primarily on the ground that the objections are not valid, and that the concerned lands come in the middle of the layout and that the lands are being acquired for the formation of house sites by the respondent society, which is a public purpose as per the definition of Section 3 (f) (vi) of the L.A. Act. On 18.03.1999, the state government issued the final notification under Section 6(1) of the L.A. Act declaring that the lands were required for public purpose without proper application of mind to the report received from the Land Acquisition Officer. The relevant portion of the notification is extracted hereunder:
11. Aggrieved of the impugned acquisition notifications, the landowners challenged the validity of the same by way of filing Writ Petitions before the High Court of Karnataka urging various legal grounds and prayed for quashing the same. The learned single Judge of the High Court, after hearing the parties arrived at the conclusion that the facts of the case were similar to those in the decision of this Court in the case of H.M.T. House Building Co-Operative Society v. Syed Khader,(1995) 2 SCC 677On the facts of the case, the learned single Judge, by way of common judgment and order dated 12.07.1996 held as under:
The learned single Judge has further held that the lands could not have been acquired by the state government in favour of a society for the purpose of providing residential sites to its members without following the procedure provided under Part VII of the L.A. Act. The learned single Judge accordingly, quashed the impugned notifications and also the acquisition proceedings in exercise of the extraordinary and discretionary power under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. 12. Aggrieved of the common judgment and order passed by the learned Single Judge, the respondent-Society filed Writ Appeals before the Division Bench of the High Court challenging the correctness of the same urging certain legal grounds. The Division Bench of the High Court held that there was no evidence on record to suggest that the âoutside agencyâ (M/s Srinivasa Enterprises) had influenced the acquisition proceedings. On the other hand, it is clear from the material placed on record that the case of the respondent-Society was considered by the State Level Co-ordination Committee on 25.09.1987, and on the basis of the clearance granted by the Committee the state government granted approval to acquire the lands in question. Accordingly, the Division Bench, by way of common final impugned judgment and order dated 06.05.2004 allowed the appeals and set aside the judgment and order passed by the learned single judge and restored the acquisition proceedings. Hence, the present appeals. 13. We have heard Mr. Shekhar Naphade, Mr. V. Giri and Mr. Basava Prabhu S. Patil, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants and Mr. Shanti Bhushan, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent-Society and Mr. H.N. Nagamohan Das, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent-original landowners in the first two appeals filed by the so-called purchasers. 14. The learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants vehemently question the correctness of the findings and reasons recorded by the Division Bench of the High Court in the impugned judgment and order. It is contended that the findings and reasons recorded on the contentious points are not only erroneous in law but also suffer from error in law. They place strong reliance on the three judge bench decision of this Court in the case of HMT House Building Cooperative Society (supra), which has been followed in the subsequent decisions of this Court in the cases of H.M.T. House Building Cooperative Society v. M. Venkataswamappa,(1995) 3 SCC 128Bangalore City Cooperative Housing Society Ltd. v. State of Karnataka,(2012) 3 SCC 727B. Anjanappa and Ors. v. Vyalikaval House Building Cooperative Society Limited and Ors.,(2012) 10 SCC 184The learned senior counsel further sought to distinguish the decision of this Court in the case of Kanaka Gruha Nirmana Sahakara Sangha v. Narayanamma,(2003) 1 SCC 228upon which strong reliance has been placed by the Division Bench of the High Court, which has been followed by this Court in the cases ofSumitramma v. State of Karnataka, SLP (C) No. 10270 of 1996, decided on 04.10.1996andMuniyappa v. State of Karnataka, SLP (C) No. 14681 of 1995 decided on 04.10.1996. It is submitted that the reliance placed upon the said judgments by the Division Bench of the High Court, in the absence of a scheme framed and approved by the government as required under Section 3 (f)(vi) of the L.A. Act in favour of the respondent-Society, is held to be violative of not only the statutory provisions of law, but also the decisions of this Court referred to supra. 15. It is further contended by the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants that the framing of a scheme and its prior approval by the state government is sine qua non for initiating acquisition proceedings for the purpose of Section 3(f)(vi) of the L.A. Act. It is submitted that in the instant case, neither any such scheme has been framed by the respondent-Society nor has there been any approval accorded by the state government before initiating land acquisition proceedings in its favour and therefore, they submit that the entire proceedings are vitiated in law. 16. It is further submitted by the learned senior counsel that this Court in the case of HMT House Building Co-Operative Society (supra) elaborated upon the scope of the term housing for the purpose of Section 3(f)(vi) of the L.A. Act. It was held therein as under:
(emphasis laid by this Court) 17. It is further submitted that a perusal of the above extracted portion of the judgment would show that prior approval of the government to the Housing Scheme, as contemplated under Section 3(f) (vi) of the L.A. Act is a condition precedent for the exercise of eminent domain power by the state government for acquisition of lands for the purpose of the housing scheme of a Co-operative society. Consequently, the existence of Housing Scheme framed by the respondent-Society is a pre-condition for grant of approval of the same by the State Government. Further reliance is placed on the decision of this Court in the case of B. Anjanappa (supra), wherein it was held as under:
18. In the instant case there was no scheme framed by the respondent-Society for the purpose of providing housing sites to its members and therefore, no prior approval could have been accorded to it by the State Government. It is submitted that the cut-off date for registration of societies and enrolment of members being 30.06.1984, and the respondent-Society having been registered just before the said cut-off date, i.e. on 01.02.1984, and there being no Board of Directors constituted prior to December 1984, and therefore, it could not have enrolled any members before the cut off date. As such, there was no scheme framed before the cut off date. In the absence of the same, there could not have been any government approval of the scheme for initiating acquisition proceedings, so as to justify the acquisition of lands under Section 3(f) (vi) of the L.A. Act. It is further submitted by the learned senior counsel that the letter dated 26.11.1987; on which reliance has been placed by the division bench of the High Court in the impugned judgment also does not amount to an âapprovalâ of a scheme in law. The letter reads as under:
19. It is submitted that the above communication does not reflect the existence of any Housing Scheme and the application of mind by the state Government for according approval thereto. It mechanically directs for publication of the notification under Section 4(1) of the L.A. Act. 20. The learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants contend that the lands in the instant case could not have been acquired in favour of the respondent-Society in the absence of there being an housing scheme framed by it and approval of the same. It is thus, contended that acquisition of lands in the instant case is violative of both the statutory provisions of law as well as the law laid down by this Court. 21. On the other hand, Mr. Shanti Bhushan, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent-Society vehemently opposes the legal contentions advanced on behalf of the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants and sought to justify the impugned judgment and order by placing strong reliance on the decision of this Court in the case of Kanaka Gruha (supra). The learned senior counsel further submits that the state government after accepting the report of Three Men Committee and State High Level Co-ordination Committee, by way of its letter dated 26.11.1987, granted approval for acquisition of lands in question in favour of the respondent-Society, the relevant portion of which has been extracted supra. 22. The learned senior counsel further questions the locus standi of the appellants in filing the first batch and second batch of appeals. It is submitted that the agreement dated 12.05.1985 entered into between the respondent-Society and M/s. Srinivasa Enterprises stipulates the respondent-Society to pay consideration to Mr. S. Rangarajan for getting the layout plan approved, costs of the entire lands purchased, execution of layout work etc. It is submitted that the original landowners in the instant case executed the general power of attorney in favour of Mr. S. Rangarajan to get the lands in question acquired. It is further submitted that the preliminary notification was issued under Section 4(1) of the L.A. Act dated 09.06.1988, and the final notification issued under Section 6(1) of the L.A. Act dated 18.03.1989 were challenged by the respondent-original landowners by way of Writ Petitions before the High Court of Karnataka, wherein the learned single judge, by way of common judgment and order dated 12.07.1996 quashed the land acquisition proceedings. It is submitted that within a few days, Mr. S. Rangarajan sold the lands in question in favour of his daughter, son and son in law, who are the appellants in first batch of appeals. It is contended that the purported sale transactions in respect of lands covered in the acquisition notifications is illegal as the same is nothing but fraud played by the said middleman on the original land owners and the society with a mala fide intention to deprive the landowners of their constitutional rights, thereby deceiving not only the original landowners, but also the respondent-Society. It is thus, contended that since the alleged sale of lands in favour of some of the appellants by Mr. Rangarajan on the basis of the power of attorney executed by the landowners is void ab initio in law, they have no locus standi to challenge the legality of the impugned judgment and acquisition proceedings in respect of the lands involved in these proceedings before this Court. 23. Mr. H.N. Nagamohan Das, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent original landowners-farmers sought to justify the impugned judgment and order passed by the Division Bench of the High Court. It is further submitted by the learned senior counsel that during the pendency of the Writ Appeals before the High Court, there came to be a compromise between the farmers and the society. The compromise is immensely beneficial to farmers as for the acquisition of every acre, each one of them are entitled for allotment of one site and the society has agreed to deposit the award amount as determined by the Land Acquisition Officer. The learned senior counsel submits that if the acquisition proceedings are not upheld, the farmers will be deprived of both the award amount as well as a site for every acre of land. In such a scenario, the only party which stands to gain is the fraudulent purchasers of the lands. Alternatively, he submits that even if the acquisition proceedings are quashed on the basis of the non compliance with Section 3(f) (vi) of the L.A. Act and decisions of this Court referred to supra and the sale transactions between Mr. S. Rangarajan and some of the appellants are held void, then also the landowners will get justice for depriving them and their family members of livelihood for more than 28 years by preventing them from cultivating the said lands and earning their livelihood. 24. We have heard the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the parties. Before we turn our attention to the essential questions of law that arise for our consideration in the present case, it is important to advert to a submission made on behalf of the appellants. The learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants have also sought to contend that the respondent-Society had no locus standi to file the Writ Appeal as it did not have any right over the said lands in the instant case. It is submitted that a right would vest in the society only once possession of the land was taken by the state government and award passed in favour of the landowners, and thus, it did not have the locus standi to challenge the quashing of the acquisition proceedings. The said submission has been sought to be rebutted by Mr. Shanti Bhushan, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent-Society, by placing reliance on a constitution bench decision of this Court in the case of U.P. Awas Evam Vikas Parishad v. Gyan Devi (D) by LRS. & Ors.,(1995) 2 SCC 32625. We are unable to agree with the contention advanced on behalf of the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants. Once the land is sought to be acquired in favour of the respondent-society and notifications issued under Sections 4(1) and 6(1) of the L.A. Act regarding the same, the respondent-Society acquires the right to challenge the quashing of the acquisition proceedings by a court of law. The contention advanced by Mr. Shanti Bhushan, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent-Society that the appellant-purchasers have no locus standi to file these special leave petitions cannot be accepted by us for the reason that they had been impleaded as respondents in the Writ Appeals before the High Court. 26. The essential questions of law that would arise for our consideration in the instant case are:
Answer to Point Nos. 1 and 2: Point nos. 1 and 2 are interrelated and are answered together as under:27. Section 3(f)(vi) of the L.A. Act reads as under:
28. The respondent-Society and M/s Srinivasa Enterprises by its proprietor Mr. S. Rangarajan, entered into an agreement dated 13.03.1985. The relevant clauses from the said agreement are extracted hereunder:
It becomes clear from a perusal of the aforesaid conditions incorporated in the agreement that M/S Srinivasa Enterprises, represented by its proprietor Mr. S. Rangarajan, had agreed to undertake the responsibility to get the lands mentioned therein acquired in favour of the respondent-Society from the state government and prepare a Layout Plan as per the regulations of the Bangalore Development Authority (hereinafter referred to as âBDAâ) and Town Planning Authority, and to get the plan sanctioned by BDA in favour of the respondent-Society. In addition to the aforesaid responsibility, he had also undertaken to execute the layout work in accordance with the sanctioned layout plan under the supervision of the BDA and get the sites released from the said authority in favour of the respondent-Society. In terms of the agreement, Mr. S. Rangarajan was to be paid Rs. 160/- per square yard by the respondent-Society, the calculation of which was to be done at Rs. 100 per sq. yard and calculation of cost of land at Rs. 60 per sq. yard for the layout charges. The details of the payment plan are outlined as under:
The aforementioned amount was enhanced to Rs. 170 per acre by way of supplementary agreement dated 05.03.1992. 29. Thus, Mr. Rangarajan was essentially required to act as a middleman between the respondent-Society and the state government to ensure that lands are acquired in favour of the respondent-Society for the purpose of its housing project. Further, between the years 1985 and 1987, the respondent landowners had executed power of attorney(s) of the lands in favour of Mr. Rangarajan. A sample clause from these Power of Attorney(s) reads as under:
A perusal of the agreement executed between the respondent-Society and Mr. Rangarajan, as well as the power of attorney(s) executed by the landowners in favour of Mr. Rangarajan would clearly show that the ultimate intent of the parties was to get the lands of the landowners acquired in favour of the respondent-Society. 30. It was also brought to our attention by the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants that the fact that co-operative societies were indulging in malpractices had also come to the notice of the state government. Accordingly, the state government of Karnataka, on 23.06.1986 issued an order stating:
The G.V.K. Rao Committee report also mentions the irregularities in the functioning of the respondent-Society. The relevant portions of the report are extracted as under:
The G.V.K. Committee Report was considered by a Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court in the case of Narayana Reddy v. State of Karnataka,ILR 1991 Kar 2248wherein it was held as under:
(emphasis laid by this Court) The principle of law that an agreement under which a party to an agreement is required to influence a statutory authority and to procure a decision favourable to the other party, is certainly opposed to public policy, has been elaborated by this Court in the case of Rattan Chand Hira Chand v. Askar Nawaz Jung,(1991) 3 SCC 67wherein it was held as under:
Further, in the first HMT case (supra), this Court has held as under:
31. In the instant case, the learned single Judge of the High Court rightly placed strong reliance upon the judgment in the first H.M.T. House Building Co-operative Society case (supra) and held that the said decision is applicable on all fours to the facts of the case on hand, holding that neither was a scheme framed by the respondent-Society nor prior approval granted by the state government. The said finding was erroneously reversed by the Division Bench of the High Court, which placed reliance upon the letter dated 26.11.1987 of the State Government addressed to the Special Deputy Commissioner, Bangalore District and held that facts of the instant case were similar to those of the decision of this Court in the case of Kanaka Gruha (supra), wherein it was held as under:
32. The Division Bench of the High Court in the instant case, accordingly, held that the approval granted in the case on hand sufficiently satisfied the requirements of Section 3(f)(vi) of the L.A. Act. The Division Bench of the High Court, however, crucially fails to appreciate the fact that the said letter issued by the state Government to the Deputy Commissioner does not speak of either framing of a Housing Scheme as contemplated under Section 3(f)(vi) of the L.A. Act or approval of the same as has been interpreted by the three judge bench decision of this Court in the case of H.M.T. House Building Co-operative Society (supra), which has been reiterated by this Court in subsequent judgments on the similar set of facts including that of Bangalore City Coop. Housing Society Ltd.(supra), the relevant paragraphs of which are extracted hereunder:
Further, in the case of Vyalikaval House Building Coop. Society v. V. Chandrappa,(2007) 9 SCC 304this Court held as under:
(emphasis laid by this Court) 33. The stand of the respondent-Society is that the acquisition of lands by the State Government is under Section 3 (f) (vi) of the L.A. Act and that a scheme has been submitted and the same has been approved. But from a perusal of the original acquisition file of the state government, it is clear that there is no such scheme and no prior approval of the same by the State Government as required under Section 3 (f) (vi) of the L.A. Act. 34. Thus, in the light of the judgments of this Court referred to supra, and in the absence of framing of scheme by the respondent-Society and approval of the same by the State Government as required under Section 3 (f)(vi) of the L.A. Act, the Division Bench, holding that the letter dated 26.11.1987 referred to supra amounts to approval of the scheme, is wholly erroneous in law for the reason that neither the Three Men Committee, nor the State Level Co-ordination Committee even adverted to the said letter in their proceedings. Further, no details are forthcoming from the original file regarding the details of the scheme, and the application of mind by the state government to approve the same. In the light of the decisions of this Court, as well as the wording of Section 3(f) (vi) of the L.A. Act, we are constrained to hold that the acquisition proceedings in the instant case cannot be said to be one for âpublic purposeâ as defined under Section 3 (f) (vi) of the L.A. Act, especially in the light of the fact that not only was there no scheme formulated by the respondent-Society and approved by the State Government for the said purpose before initiating the acquisition proceedings, but that the evidence on record clearly indicates that the respondent-Society paid consideration to Mr. S. Rangarajan to act as the agent between it and the state government, to ensure that the lands of the original land owners are acquired in its favour. Upholding such an acquisition would be akin to approving to such type of agreements which are opposed to public policy and the same cannot be allowed by this Court under any circumstances, as the concept of hiring middlemen to get lands of the poor agricultural workers acquired by the state government in favour of a Cooperative Society is abhorrent and cannot be granted the sanction of law. 35. Even as far as the terms of the so-called agreement are concerned, the parties failed to meet those as well. The relevant clause of the agreement is extracted as under:
It is clear that the parties to the said agreement were not even able to honour the terms of the same. Thus, the acquisition of the lands cannot be allowed to sustain for that reason as well. 36. Further, the state government did not even take into consideration the finding of the G.V.K. Rao Committee report, which found that the respondent-Society was issuing membership to persons fraudulently, including to those persons who were not even residing within the area of operation of the jurisdiction of the society. Further, the acquisition of lands of two different villages by issuing the impugned notifications by the State Government in exercise of its eminent domain power at the instance of a middleman amounts to a mala fide exercise of power by the state government. This is further made clear from the stand of the state government reflected throughout the proceedings, not just before this Court, but also before the High Court, where it remained a silent spectator to the proceedings, and neither actively defended the acquisition of lands nor opposed it. Even in the affidavit dated 03.08.2016 submitted before this Court in these proceedings, the stand of the state government is merely that it will proceed to make an award under Section 24(1)(a) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013(hereinafter referred to as the âNew L.A. Act, 2013â), if the validity of the acquisition of the lands in question is upheld. This stand of the state government clearly goes to show the seriousness in which it has exercised its eminent domain power in such important case of acquisition of lands of poor agricultural workers in blatant violation of the provisions of the L.A. Act and law laid down by this Court. 37. Thus, the impugned notifications issued under Sections 4(1) and Section 6(1) of the L.A. Act are bad in law as the same suffer from not only legal mala fides but also legal malice, which amounts to colourable exercise of power by the state government and therefore, the same are liable to be quashed and accordingly quashed. 38. At this stage, it is also important to reflect on another argument advanced by the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants, that since till date no award has been passed in favour of the landowners by the Land Acquisition Officer and therefore, the land acquisition proceedings are lapsed on that count also by virtue of Section 11A of the L.A. Act. 39. The learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants submit that since no award has been passed within two years from the date of the acquisition of the lands, which got over in April 1991, thus, by virtue of Section 11A of the L.A. Act, the acquisition proceedings are lapsed. A question which was sought to be examined was whether Section 24(1)(a) of the New L.A. Act, 2013, which came into force from 01.01.2014 would save the proceedings in the instant case, even if the award has not been passed within two years from the date of the acquisition of the lands. Before we deal with the argument advanced by the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants, it would be useful to advert to the relevant statutory provisions. Section 11A of the L.A. Act reads as under:
The relevant provisions of the New L.A. Act, 2013 read as under:
It was contended that when the New L.A. Act, 2013 came into force, the acquisition proceedings had already lapsed by virtue of Section 11A of the L.A. Act. Section 6 of the General Clauses Act clearly lays down that the repeal of the L.A. Act does not revive anything not in force or existing at the time the repeal takes effect. It is submitted that the repeal took effect on 01.01.2014 and as on that date, the acquisition proceedings were no longer alive. Thus, Section 24(1)(a) of the New L.A. Act,2013 read with Section 6 of the General Clauses Act does not revive the acquisition proceedings which were dead long before coming into force of the New L.A. Act, 2013. 40. On the other hand, Mr. Shanti Bhushan, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent-Society very strongly opposed the said contention placing reliance upon Section 24(1)(a) of the New L.A. Act, 2013 and Section 11A of the L.A. Act that an Award could not be passed because of the status quo order passed by way of an interim order that had been passed during the pendency of the writ petitions, writ appeals and as well as the proceedings before this Court. Therefore, the acquisition proceedings cannot be said to have lapsed on that ground alone. 41. In view of the fact that for the reasons stated supra, we have already come to the conclusion that the acquisition proceedings in respect of the acquired lands are liable to be quashed and there is no need for us to render an opinion on this question of law in these cases, as interesting as it is. Answer to Point nos. 3 and 442. Having arrived at the conclusion on the points framed in these appeals for the reasons stated supra, the acquisition proceedings in the instant case are liable to be quashed, we now turn our attention to answer the question of the relief required to be granted by this Court in favour of the appellants in the appeals arising out of SLP (C) Nos. 13656-13684 of 2004 and the appeals arising out of SLP (C) Nos. 18090-18118 of 2004. The appellants in the connected third appeals arising out of SLP (C) No. 23336-23339 of 2004 are the original owners of lands who had approached the High Court after a long lapse of time. Therefore, Mr. Shanti Bhushan learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent-Society submits the appeals arising out of SLP (C) Nos. 23336-23339 of 2004 are liable to be dismissed on account of delay and laches as they have approached the High Court after long lapse of time without proper and sufficient explanation in approaching belatedly to the High Court by filing writ petitions. Mr. Shekhar Naphade, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the said appellants-landowners has seriously opposed the above contention by contending that the said question has already been answered by this Court in H.M.T. House Building Coop. Society (supra) wherein it was held that once the proceedings are void ab initio in law for non-compliance with mandatory statutory requirement of prior approval of the Scheme, the original owners cannot be shut out from the Court in challenging the acquisition proceedings and therefore, they are entitled to challenge the same at any point of time even in the collateral proceedings. We have accepted the above contention as the same is well founded and tenable in law. 43. On the issue of whether the so called purchasers of the lands during the pendency of Writ petitions were entitled to relief as prayed for by them in the instant cases, our answer must be in the negative for the following reasons: The respondent-original landowners in the first appeal had executed power of attorney(s) in favour of Mr. S. Rangarajan to facilitate him to get the lands acquired in favour of the respondent-Society, the relevant terms of which have been extracted supra to show that they have not executed the power of attorney in his favour to sell their lands other than the respondent-Society. On the basis of the same the acquisition proceedings were initiated and the notifications under Section 4(1) and 6(1) of the L.A. Act were issued. Some of the respondent-original landowners objected to the same by submitting their objections to the proposed acquisition of their lands before the Land Acquisition Officer after Section 4(1) notification was published. No doubt their objections have been mechanically overruled by the Land Acquisition Officer and the State Government without application of mind to the facts of the case and the provisions of the L.A. Act. The fact that the report submitted by the Special Deputy Commissioner under Section 5A(2) of the L.A. Act has not been even considered by the State Government properly and objectively is evident from the original file produced in these cases. After the Writ Petitions were allowed by the learned single Judge of the High Court, the middleman, Mr. S. Rangarajan played fraud on the land owners and the society by making use of said Power of Attorney(s) and executed the sale deeds in favour of his son, daughter and son-in-law who are the appellants in the appeals arising out of SLP (C) Nos. 13656-13684 of 2004, within a span of a few days from the date of passing the judgment by the learned Single Judge in the writ petitions. The said action of Mr. S. Rangarajan tantamounts to fraud played by him upon the respondent-original landowners and therefore, the said transaction of executing the sale deeds in favour of his son, daughter and son in law is void ab initio in law. 44. As far as the sale in favour of the appellants in the appeals arising out of SLP (c) Nos. 18090-18118 of 2004 is concerned during the pendency of the writ petitions, the same is also void ab initio in law as the same happened during the pendency of the Writ Petition before the learned single Judge of the High Court. A Division Bench of this Court in the case of Uddar Gagan Properties Ltd. v. Sant Singh & Ors.12 held that the sale transactions of a similar nature is void ab initio in law. Thus, the transactions of the alleged sales made during the pendency of the proceedings are 12 C.A. No. 5072 of 2016, decided on 13.05.2016 wholly illegal and void ab initio in law and therefore the same cannot be allowed to sustain in law. The said sale transactions are also contrary to law which is in operation in respect of agricultural lands. 45. The Impleadment Application Nos. 74-102 of 2010 filed in the appeals arising out of the SLP (C) Nos. 13656-13684 of 2004 are also liable to be rejected, as the applicant therein claims to be the Power of Attorney(s) holder of some of the lands in question and agreements of sale. Since he neither approached the High Court, nor this Court by way of filing SLPs and neither the agreements of sale nor the power of attorney(s) confer any right upon him at this time, as the same is barred by the provisions of the Land Reforms Act, 1952, provisions of the Specific Relief Act as well as the Limitation Act, the applicant has no legal right to come on record to challenge the impugned judgment and therefore the Impleadment Applications are rejected, as the same are wholly unsustainable in law. 46. For the reasons stated supra, we pass the following orders:
All pending applications are disposed of. |