# GUJARAT STATE TRANSPORT CORPORATION, ETC v. V ALJI MULJI SONEJI AND ORS

- **Citation:** [1979] 3 S.C.R. 905
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1979-05-03
- **Bench:** D. A. Desai, 0. Chinnappa Reddy
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/gujarat-state-transport-corporation-etc-v-v-alji-mulji-soneji-and-ors-7820
- **Pages:** 15

## Headnote

Land Acquisition Act, 1894, Sections 4 am! 6-Validity of Section 6 Notification atruck down by the Supremt Court after 13 years of legal battle inter·
partt~onsequent to the decision second notification under Section 6 issued
Ml J()..10-1967 after giving frtsh notice under Section 5A and personal h'!aring
of the parties-Whether the second notificatio11 is hit by the postulate that "every
statutory power n1ust be exercised reasonabl_v"-E!Ject of the Land Acquisition
(Amendment and Validation) Act 1967 introducing amendments to Secrion 4(2)
and proviso to Section 6.
Legtil Rcprt·:.entatives to be brought on record-Civil Procedure Code, 1908Jlaking an application under Order XXII Rule 10 instead of under Order ),:XXL
Rule 4 · i.f not correct.
A suit (No. 1262/53) challenging the notification under Section 4 •)f the
Land. Acquisition Act dated 10-10-1952 issued by the former Governml!nt of
Bombay and later another notification under Section 6 of the Act dated 14-8-1953
(issued· during the pendency of the suit), notifying that the final plots Nos. 41.
42 and 43 were requited for public purpose viz. State Transport-was dismissed
by the Trial Court on 28-1-1959. The first and the second
appeals having
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failed, the respondents came up to this Court. This c:ourt in its
decision
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inter partes, Valii Bliai's case struck down Section 6 notification on the ground
that the acquisition being for the benefit of a Corporation, though for a _ryublic
purpose was bad because no part of the compensation was to come out of the
public revenue and the provisions of Part VII of the Act had not been complied with.
After the bifurcation of the erstwhile State of Bombay, the land acquisition
p
proceedings came· within the cognizance of Gujarat State. The State by its
letter dated. 22~8-1966 decided to contribute towards compensation a sum of
Re. ] /- which was subsequently raised to Rs. 500 /-. The Government felt
that as long time has elapsed since the earlier report under Section 5A was
submitted by the Collector, a fresh enquiry should be made.
Accordingly the
Additional Special Land Acquisition Officer issued a notice dated 1-8-1966 inti~
mating to the respandents that if they so desired they might submit their further
G .
objections on or before 16-8-1966. Complying with this notice, the respondents
submitted further objections on 31-8-1966 and they were also given a personal
hearing. After examining the enquiry report submitted by the enquiry officer,
the Government of Gujarat issued a notification under Section 6 on 10-10-1967.
The respondents questioned the validity and legality of this notification in
the writ petition filed by them on 14-2-1968 on the only ground that it was
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issued more than 15 years after the date of Section 4 notification. The lligh
Court was of the opinion that if the power to make a declaration under Section
2-409 SCI /79
906
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[ 1979] 3 S.C.R.
1!I.
6 is exercised after an unreasonable delay from the date on which notification
under Sei..:tion 4 is issued such exercise of power would be invalid and it accordingly struck do\vn the notification under Section 6 of the Act.
Hence the two
appeiils one by the State of Gujarat and the other by the Ciujarat S:ate Road
Tran~port Corporation.
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Allov.'ing the appeals by certificate, the Court
JfELD : 1. The impugned section 6 notification was issued \vithin the pres·
cribed period introduced by the 1967 Amendment Act and, therefore could
not be struck down on the only ground that the power to issue second section
6 notification 'vas exercised after an unrcasonablC and unexplained
delay.
Section 6 notification, dated 10th October 1967, therefore is valid and legal.
C
[918G-H, 919A]
2. A combined reading of the prov1s1ons contained in sub-section (2)
of
Se<:tion 4 with the one contained in the proviso to sub-section (1) of Sectioe
6 introduced by the Land Acquisition (Amendment and
ValidatioR)
Act,
(Central Act 13 of 1967) with effect from 20-1-1967 would m

## Text

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>
905
GUJARAT STATE TRANSPORT CORPORATION, ETC.
A
v.
V ALJI MULJI SONEJI AND ORS.
May 3, 1979
[D. A. DESAI AND 0. CHINNAPPA REDDY, JJ.J
Land Acquisition Act, 1894, Sections 4 am! 6-Validity of Section 6 Notification atruck down by the Supremt Court after 13 years of legal battle inter·
partt~onsequent to the decision second notification under Section 6 issued
Ml J()..10-1967 after giving frtsh notice under Section 5A and personal h'!aring
of the parties-Whether the second notificatio11 is hit by the postulate that "every
statutory power n1ust be exercised reasonabl_v"-E!Ject of the Land Acquisition
(Amendment and Validation) Act 1967 introducing amendments to Secrion 4(2)
and proviso to Section 6.
Legtil Rcprt·:.entatives to be brought on record-Civil Procedure Code, 1908Jlaking an application under Order XXII Rule 10 instead of under Order ),:XXL
Rule 4 · i.f not correct.
A suit (No. 1262/53) challenging the notification under Section 4 •)f the
Land. Acquisition Act dated 10-10-1952 issued by the former Governml!nt of
Bombay and later another notification under Section 6 of the Act dated 14-8-1953
(issued· during the pendency of the suit), notifying that the final plots Nos. 41.
42 and 43 were requited for public purpose viz. State Transport-was dismissed
by the Trial Court on 28-1-1959. The first and the second
appeals having
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failed, the respondents came up to this Court. This c:ourt in its
decision
E
inter partes, Valii Bliai's case struck down Section 6 notification on the ground
that the acquisition being for the benefit of a Corporation, though for a _ryublic
purpose was bad because no part of the compensation was to come out of the
public revenue and the provisions of Part VII of the Act had not been complied with.
After the bifurcation of the erstwhile State of Bombay, the land acquisition
p
proceedings came· within the cognizance of Gujarat State. The State by its
letter dated. 22~8-1966 decided to contribute towards compensation a sum of
Re. ] /- which was subsequently raised to Rs. 500 /-. The Government felt
that as long time has elapsed since the earlier report under Section 5A was
submitted by the Collector, a fresh enquiry should be made.
Accordingly the
Additional Special Land Acquisition Officer issued a notice dated 1-8-1966 inti~
mating to the respandents that if they so desired they might submit their further
G .
objections on or before 16-8-1966. Complying with this notice, the respondents
submitted further objections on 31-8-1966 and they were also given a personal
hearing. After examining the enquiry report submitted by the enquiry officer,
the Government of Gujarat issued a notification under Section 6 on 10-10-1967.
The respondents questioned the validity and legality of this notification in
the writ petition filed by them on 14-2-1968 on the only ground that it was
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issued more than 15 years after the date of Section 4 notification. The lligh
Court was of the opinion that if the power to make a declaration under Section
2-409 SCI /79
906
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[ 1979] 3 S.C.R.
1!I.
6 is exercised after an unreasonable delay from the date on which notification
under Sei..:tion 4 is issued such exercise of power would be invalid and it accordingly struck do\vn the notification under Section 6 of the Act.
Hence the two
appeiils one by the State of Gujarat and the other by the Ciujarat S:ate Road
Tran~port Corporation.
B
Allov.'ing the appeals by certificate, the Court
JfELD : 1. The impugned section 6 notification was issued \vithin the pres·
cribed period introduced by the 1967 Amendment Act and, therefore could
not be struck down on the only ground that the power to issue second section
6 notification 'vas exercised after an unrcasonablC and unexplained
delay.
Section 6 notification, dated 10th October 1967, therefore is valid and legal.
C
[918G-H, 919A]
2. A combined reading of the prov1s1ons contained in sub-section (2)
of
Se<:tion 4 with the one contained in the proviso to sub-section (1) of Sectioe
6 introduced by the Land Acquisition (Amendment and
ValidatioR)
Act,
(Central Act 13 of 1967) with effect from 20-1-1967 would make it clear that
the Government would be pr~cluded from making a declaration under section
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6 after the expiry of a period of three years from the date of issue of a notif
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cation under Section 4 which may be issued after the Amendment Act can1e
into force.
l\.nd in respect of those section 4 notifications which were issued
prior to the commencement of the Ordinance i.e. 20-1-1967, any notification
which is required to be issued under section 6 must be made within a period
of t\vo years \\'hereafter as a necessary corollary all s. 4 notificatio11s issued
prior to 20th January 1967 woult.l stand t=xhausted and \Voul<l not provide either
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a source of reservoir for issuing s. 6 notification. Consequently the
mischief
sought to be set at naught by the High Court by reading by necessary implication in the scheme of ss. 4, SA, and 6 the concept of exercise of statutory power
within a reasonable time bas been statutorily remedied. The apprehensions of
the High Court that if not checkmated by implying that such statutory pow~r
must be exercised within a reasonable time to curb arbitrary exercise of pov.'cr
to the detriment of a citizen have been taken note of by the legislature
and
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fully met. Absence of any decided case on the subject of which High Court
took note could not permit an inference as has been done by the High Court
that in the absence of a decided case the legislature would not remedy
the
possible mischief.
Legislature often does take note of a possible abuse
of
power by the executive and proceed to nip it in the bud by appropriate legislation and that has been done in this case. There i_s now no more possibility
of a gap of. more than three years from the date on which s. 4 notification is
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issued, otherwise it would be invalid as being beyond the prescribed period.
[916 G-H, 917 A-DJ
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Jn the instant case, the notifications under section 4 was prior to the commencement of the ordinance. Therefore, the provision contained in sub-section
(2) of section 4 of the 1967 Amendment Act would be directly attracted. The
Government could, therefore, make a declaration within a period of two years
from 20th January 1967. The Government has in fact issued the impugned
notification under section 6 on 10th October 1967 i.e. within the period prescribed by the Statute. [917 E-F]
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G. S. T. CORP. V. V. M. SONEJl
907
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3. \Vhen a period is prescribed for exercise of power it manifests the legis·
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{ative intention that the authority exercising the power within the prescribed time
.could not at least be accused of inaction or dithering and, therefore, such exer·
cise of po\O\'er could not be said to be bad or invalid on the only ground that
there \Vas unreasonable delay in the exercise of the po,ver. The very prescription
of time inheres a belief that the nature and quantum of power and the manner
in \Vhich it is to be exercised would consume at least that much time which the
Gtatute prescribes as reasonable and, therefore, exercise of power within tllat
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time could not be negatived on the only ground of unreasonable delay. [917 H,
918 A-B]
Therefore, in this case, there·. was no unreasonable delay in exercise of pow.er
and hence the exercise was neither bad nor invalid.
[918BJ
4. Once the legislature stepped in and prescribed a sort of limitation within
which power to issue notification under section 6 could be exercised, it was n1Jt
necessary to go in search of a further fetter on the po,ver of the Governme9.t
by raising the implication.
[918F-G]
In this case, the High Court by implico.1:ion read a fetter on the power of the
!Government to issue s. 6 notification within a reasonable time after the issue of
s. 4 notification after observing that there was no express provision that such
-power ought to be exercised within a reasonable time. In raising this implica.·
tion the High Court took into account the postulate that every statutory power
must be exercised reasonably and a reasonable exercise of power implies its
exercise withil). a reasonable time.
Coupled with it two other factors were
·taken into consideration such as the effect of issuing a s. 4 notification on the
rights and obligations of the owner of the land whose land is proposed to be
acquired; the right of the Government to unilaterally cancel s. 4 notification in
the event of fall in prices; history of legislation; and delayed issue of s.
6
notification would deny adequate compensation to the owner. But by the time
the High Court examined this matter the legislature had already introduced a
provision by which the· power to issue s. 6 notification was to be exercised with·
in the prescribed period of time. At that stage there hardly arose a question
of a search of the fetter on the power of the Government ignoring to some
extent the express statutory provision.
[918C-F]
5. In the case of death of a party to a proceeding who is joined in his
capacity as Karta of an undivided Hindu family, if the undivided Hindu family
continues to be in existence the succeeding Karta can be substituted for the
deceased Karta of the family and that would be sufficient compliance
with
Order XXII Rule 4 of C.P.C. [911D-E]
In the insant case an application made under Order XXIl Rules 10 C.P.C.,
made aftCr the prescribed period of limitation and in order to avoid seeking
condonation of delay for setting aside abatement is not correct.
[911E]
[fhe Court, however, overruled the objection on this ground since the L.rs.
nave already been substituted].
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal Nos. 2316/69 and
1598/70.
From the Judgment and Order dated 14/17/18th March, 1969
.of the Gujarat High Coun in S.C.A. No. 729/68.
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[1979] 3 S.C.lt.
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R.H. Dhebar and M. N. Shroff for the Appellants in C.A. 2316/69,
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D. V. Patel, M. V. Goswami and Ambrish Kumar for RR 1-S ill
C.A. 2316/69 and RR. 1-4 in C.A. No. 1598/70.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
DESAI, J.-These two appeals by certificate under article 133(l)(c}
of the Constitution arise from a judgment rendered by the Gnjarat High
Court in Special Civil Application No. 720/68, being a petition under
article 226 of the Constitution challenging the validity of a notificatiot1.
issued by the Government of Gujarat on 10th October 1967 under
section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, J 894 ('Act' for short). Civil
Appeal No. 2316/69 is preferred by the original respondent No. 2
Gujarat State Transport Corporation, and the cognate Civil Appeal
No. 1598/70 is preferred by the State of Gujarat, the first respondent
in the petition. As both the appeals arise from the same proceedings
and raise identical contentious they were heard together and are being
di•posed of by this conunon judgment.
A notification under s. 4 of the Act was issued by the former Government of Bombay on 10th October 1952 notifying that final plots 41,
42 and 43 \\ere likely to be needed for a public purpose, viz., State
Transport. The respondents who are tenants of different parcels of
land comprised in the aforementioned final plots objected to the
proposed acquisition. Socn after filing the objections under s. SA ot
the Act the respondents filed Civil Suit No. 1262/53 in the Court of
Civil Judge, Second Division, Ahmedabad, for a declaration that the
notification under s. 4 was illegal and uUr,. vires and for an injunction
restraining the respondent State from procee<ling with the acquisitio•
of the lands in possession of the respondents. During tho pendency of
this suit the then Government of Bombay, after considering the report
submitted under s. SA, made a declaration under s. 6 as per the notification dated 14th August 1953 declaring, inter alia, that final plots 41,
42 and 43 were required for the purpose of State Transport. The respondents amended their plaint adding a relief for quashing the notification under s. 6. The suit filed by the petitioners was dismissed by the
trial court and first and second appeals did not meet with successThey carried the matter to this Court and succeeded as per judgment
reported in Valjlbhai Muljibhai Soneji & Anr. v. The State of Bombay
(now Gujarat) & Ors.('). As per that judgment this Court decreed
the plaintiff's suit which would imply that this Court quashed both noti·
fications under ss. 4 and 6. Reading the judgment as a whole it
(1) [1964) 3 S. C. R. 68~.
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G. S. T. CORP. v. V. M. SONEJJ (De~ai, J.)
909
:appears that the validity of s. 4 notification was upheld and only the
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notification under s. 6 was struck down. In the mean time on the bifurcation of the erstwhile State of Bombay these land acquisition proceedings came witi]in the cognizance of Government of Gujarat and when
the State Government became aware some where in 1965 about the
error in the decree, Review Applications Nos. 11 and 12 of 1965 were
made for correcting the decree. This Court granted the applications
and modified the decree on 13th September 1965.
The Government taking its clue from the judgment of this Court
which invalidated s. 6 notification on the ground that the acquisition
having been made for the benefit of a Corporation, though for public
purpose, is bad because no part of the compensation is to come out of
the public revenue and provisions of Part VIl of the Land Acquisition
Act have not been complied with, decided as per its lettet< dated 22nd
August 1966 to contribute Re. !/-, which was subsequently raised to
Rs. 500/- towards payment of compensation. The Government, however, felt tl1at as long time has elapsed since the earlier report under
s. SA was submitted by the Collector, a fresh enquiry should be made
Accordingly the Additional Special Land Acquisition Officer issued a
notice dated 1st August 1966 intimating to the respondents that if they
so desired they may submit their further objections by or before 16th
August 1966. Complying with this notice the respondents submitted
further objections on 31st August 1966 and they were also given
a
personal hearing .. After examining the report submitted by the enquiry
officer the Government of Gujarat issued a notification under s. 6 on
10th October, 1967.
The respondents questioned the validity and
legality of this notification in the petition filed by them on
14th
February, 1968.
Respondents questioned the validity of the impugned s. 6 notification on the only ground that it was issued more than 15 years after the
date of s. 4 notification and thus it hacl been issued after an unreasonB
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able delay and it was illegal and void. While this was the only contenG
tion which found favour with the High Court, in reaching this conclusion the High Court, after taking note of the fact .that there was no
express provision in the Act requiring that the notification under s. 6
must be issued within a reasonable time after issue of s. 4 notification,
primarily relied upon the postulate that. every statutory power must be
exercised reasonably, a doctrine too finally entrenched in our jurispruH
<lence to brook any refutation which would assist in raising
the
implication that s. 6 notification must follow within a reasonable time
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1979] 3 S.C.R.
after issue of s. 4 notification. The Court also drew support from the
scheme of ss. 4, SA and 6 as well as the history of the legislation. On
behalf of the appellants it was pointed out to the High Court that in
view of the provisions contained in sub-s. (2) of s. 4 of the Land Acquisition (Amendment and Validation) Act, 1967 ('Amendment Act' for
short), as well as the proviso to s. 6(1) also introduced by the same
amendment Act the situation as bas arisen in this case is not likely to
arise and the apprehended mischief is not likely to be committed ·in,
future and, therefore, the Court should not gci in search of the fetters on
the powe{of the Government to issue s. 6 notification, in the absence
of any express provision, by implication that statutory power must be
exercised within a reasonable time. It was further submitted on their
behalf that once the legislature has clearly permitted a thing to be
done within the time specified ;ri the statute it would' be impern1issible
by a process of interpretation\ to reduce the statutory period by implying a further fetter on the power of the Government and that would be
the 'effect if the contention on behalf of the respondents was accepted.
In 1other words, as the legislature has now provided that in respect of
a notification issued under s. 4 before the commencement of the Land
Acquisition' (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, 1967, no declaration under s. 6 shall be made after the expiry of two years from the
commencement of the aforesaid Ordinance, ·and further that in case of
section 4 notification issued after the commencement of the Ordinance
a statutory limit of three years is fixed within which declaration under
s. 6 can be made, the apprehended arbitrary exercise of power is thwarted and the Court should not further restrict or curtail the power of the
Government to issue notification under s. 6 within the time prescribed
by the statute.
The High Court was of the opinion that if the power to make a
declaration. under S· 6 is exercised after an unreasonable delay from
the. date on which notification under s. 4 is issued such ex:rc:se of
. power ·would be invalid and· accordingly struck down the notification
under s. 6.
Hence these two ap~eals.
A preliminary objection was raised by the learned counsel for the .
respondents in . both the appeals contending that as the appellants in
both the appeals failed to seek within the prescribed time substitution
of the heirs and le~al representatives of respondent 5 who died on 8th
March, 1970 during the pendency of the appeal in this Court, in the
circumstances of the case these appeals would abate as a whole.
Undoubtedly, respondent 5 who is described in the cause title of tho.
Memos.· of Appeals as "Ramesh Ramjibhai, Manager, Ramesh Restaurant, a joint hindu family business", died on 8th March 1970.
What
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G. s. T. CORP. v. v. M. SONEJI (Desai, !.)
911
appears to have happened thereafter is that applications were made
by the appellants under Order 22, Rule 10, Code of Civil Procedure,
for br:nging Shri Krishnakant Ramjibhai, :V1anage,r of Ramesh Restaurant, a joint hindu family business, on record in place of deceased
respondent 5.
According to the appellants the deceased respondent 5
had filed the original petition in. his capacity as manager of joint hindu
· family business and on his death as the interest devolved upon the
succeeding manager of the joint hindu family business,
applications
under order 22, rule 10, C.P .C. were made to hring the per$on on
record on whom the interest devolved pending the appeal.
Mr. D. V.
Patel took serious exception to the procedure adopted by the appellants
and there is some merit in this criticism. In fact, when Ramesh Ramjibhai who filed the initial petition in his capacity as karta of the undivided hindu family business died during the pendency of the appeal,
proper applications should have been made by the appellants unde.r
0. 22, r. 4, to substitute heirs of Ramesh Ramjibhai who was respondent 5 in the appeals before this Court. In case of death of a party
to a proceeding who is joined in his capacity as .karta of an undivided
hindu family, if tho undivided hindu family continues to be in existence
the succeeding karta can be substituted for the deceased karta of the
family and that would be sufficient compliance with Order 22, r. 4.
What appears to have been done is to make applications under 0. 22,
r. I 0 and those applications appear to have been granted subject to
just exceptions.
The applications appear to have been made after the
prescribed period of limitation, and in order to avoid seeking condonation of delay for setting aside abatement, O. 22, r. 10 appears to have
bcrn invoked.
Mr. Patel is right in saying that this was a device but
in any event if proper applications were made under 0. 22, r. 4 the
gentleman who bec:imc the karta of the undivided hindu family after
the death of the former karta could h·ave been substituted on record
for the dcccaseJ respondent 5.
In any evem, succeeding karta of the
undivided hindu family having been brought on record though nc>t
strictly in accordance \Vith law, we do not prop::::se to give any irnportance to this technical objection and overrule the same.
In a <lccision inter partcs, Valjibhai's case, (supra) this Court struck
down the first section 6 notification issued on 14th August 1953 on
the ground that the acquisition being for the benefit of a Corporation.
though for a public purpose, was bad because no part of the compensation . was to come out of the public revenue and the provisions of
Part VII of the Act had not been complied with. It would appear
thats. 4 notification was issued on 10th October 1952 and within less
tban one year, after .completing the enquiry under s. SA and the
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[1979] 3 S.C.R.
examination of the report by the appropriate Government, s. 6 notification was issued on 4th August 1953.
By any yard-stick it could. n.ot
have been said that there was delay, much less an unreasonable delay,
in making the necessary declaration under s. 6 after the issue of the
notification under s. 4.
The chronology of events that followed in
the wake of issuance of a notification under s. 6 dated 14th August
1953 would wholly exonerate the Government of any charge of dithering
or dilatoriness or inaction.
These events be noticed now so as
to
appreciat~ the submission on behalf of the appellants that they cannot
be accused of any inaction. deliberate dilatoriness or dithering.
Soon after the issue of the notification under s. 4 dated 10th
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October 1952 and even before the declaration was made under s. 6
as per notification dated 14th August 1953 the respondents tiled Civil
Suit No. 1262/53 challenging the notification under s. 4 and sought
an injunction restraining the then State of Bombay from proceeding
with the acquisition of the lands in possession of the respondents.
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interim injunction was sought but the same was refused.
Thereafter
came the notification under s. 6 dated 14th August 1953. It appears
that thereafter the rcspm;dents amended the plaint to add a relief for
quashing and setting aside the notification under '" 6 also. It would
thus appear thal whatever was required to be done by the Government
for completing the proceedings of acquisition
was undertaken and
finished within a period of less than one year from the date of the
notification under s. 4.
The suit filed by the respondents was dismissed
by the trial court as per its judgment dated 28th January 1959. Both
the notifications were held valid and they were not found to suffer from
any infirmity as contended for and on behalf of the respondents. The
respondents carried the matter in appeal to the District Court and this
appeal was dismissed by the first appellate court as per its judgment
dated 28th September 1959.
The respondents preferred second appeal
to the High Court but failed to carry conviction with the High Court,
with the result that the appeal failed and was dismissed on 1st August
1960. The respondents did not rest content with the dismissal of
their •econd appeal and applied for and obtained special leave of this
Court under article 136 of the Constitution.
The appeal of the respondents by special leave succeeded as per judgment rendered by this
Court on 8th May 1963.
The question is whether there was any delay much less unreasonable delay on the part of the State Government in taking follow up
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action after issuing notification under s. 4.
The State GO\·ernment had
actually taken the follow up action expeditiously within less than a
year when on .Pth August 1953, s. 6 notificat.ion was ;,;sued.
Even
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G. s. T. CORP. v. v. M. SONE.JI (Desai, J.)
913
before s. 6 notification was issued the respondents filed the suit and
went on preferring appeals.
They succeeded for the first time in this
when this Court allowed their appeals on May 8, 1963.
Till then the
Government could not be accused of any inaction or delay in taking ;
the follow up action.
What was the Government expected to do
during the time the respondents went on preferring successive appeals?
Was the Government expected, even though it succeeded in the tria~
court and first and second appellate courts to foresee
in advance
that at some stage by some court in the pyramid of appeals its notificaction under i. 6 would be found to be ineffective and forestall such a
decision by issuing another s. 6 notification ex majore cautela ? If the
Government succeeded in three courts and was assured by three courts
that· both its notiiications under ss. 4 and 6 were valid and effective,
it is difficult to appreciate the observation of the High Court that when
the G0vernmcnt issued the first s. 6 notification it was ineffective exercise of power under s. 6 and the Government wrongly went on contendA
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ing that it was a valid exercise of power.
This criticism is not wdl
1'1erited.
There would have been some legitimacy in this criticism of
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ihe stand of the Government if the Government had lost in the first
cour~ and went on filing successive appeals even if each court went on
holding the notification ineffective.
The reverse is the position.
The
·Government went on succeeding and the courts went on upholding the
notification.
Tltere was no alternative with the Government but to go
E
on ddcnding its action before the courts to which it was dragged by
the icspondcnls alter their successive failures.
In this background the
question was posed by the High Court : Can the Government then
contend. when it 1s found to be wrong by the highest court in the land,
that the delay in the exercise of the power under s. G occasioned by
its own wrong sl~ind should be regarded as reasonable?
and answered
by it by saying tiiat if the Government had not persisted in wrong! y
asserting the validity of the first s. 6 notification and accepting its
invalidity, had cancelled it, the delay in the effective exercise of the
power under s. 6 could have been avoided.
This answer is unfortunately not borne out by the events succeeding the issuance of the
first >. 6 notification.
Not only the Government stand was not found
to be wrong but by three courts it was found to be correct. It is this
Court in the last appeal found s. 6 notificatior, invalid.
Could the
Government be expected to speculate in advance that ultimately it may
fail to convince this Court though it had convinced three other courts
and, :herefore, right at the time of institution of the suit in the: court.
concede the contention of the respondents and cancel the first s. 6
notifi•:ation and issue a second one ? There was no guarantee that the
second one would not have been challenged and obviously there was
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no assurance that some defect may not be found by some court even in
the second s. 6 notification.
The Government cannot be put on the
horns of a dilemma.
Therefore, we find it difficult to agree with the
High Court that having adopted a wrong stand and thus taken about
11 years the Government cannot now be permitted to urge that ~he
delay so occasioned should not be regarded as unreasonable.
In fact
the Government liad practically little or no option but to support the
deci'.;ions of the Courts which were in its favour till this Court for the
first time found some defect in its notification under s. 6.
Any other
view may leaci to a startling result that every iitigant before it can
explain the ~elay on the ground of being led from court to court must
foresee a possible error that the hierarchy of courts may at some stage
notice and rectify its stand in advance. It would be nothing short of
a speculative approach which may ill-suit any litigant and more so the
Government.
The High Court was further of the opinion that even if there was
some explanation for the delay from 14th August 1953 to 8th May
1963, there was no explanation for the delay in making the review
application in the beginning of 1965 before the Supreme Court and
that this period of one year and 9 months remains totally unexplained.
In this context it may be advantageous to state that the respondents
in the earlier round of litigation had challenged both the notifications
under ss. 4 and 6 and had lost before the first tl1ree courts.
This
Court while allowing the appeal by its judgment dated 8th May 1963
passeJ the iir.al order as under :
"W c, therefore, allow the 2ppeals and decree the suits of
the appellants with costs in all the Courts".
Literally implemented, the dccretal portion would
mean
thru
both s. 4 and s. 6 notifications were struck down. Reading the body of
the judgment it clearly transpires that this Court upheld the validity of
the notification under s. 4. When this
inconsistency bdween the
judgment and the decree came to the notice of the Government,
Review Petitions Nos. 11 and 12 of 1965 appear to have been filed in
the year 1965, and these petitions were allowed by this Court as per
its order dated 13th September 1965 by deleting the decretal portion
of the judgment as extracted hereinabove and substituting it in the
followin:; words :
"and decree the suit for permanent injunction restraining
the respondents from proceeding further with the land acquisition proceedings under the said notification issued under
s. (i(l) of the Act with costs in all the courts".
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G. s. T. CORP. v. v. M. SONEJI (Desai, !.)
915
The High Court was of the opinion that the Government took a
long time of one year and 9 months in ascertaining this inconsistency
between the decretal portion of the judgment and the main body of
the judgment and there was delay in moving the review applications.
In this connection a reference to the affidavit of Mr. D. K. Motwani,
Secretary to the Gujarat Sta•c Road Transport Corporation for whose
benefit the acquisition was being made, as well as the affidavit of Shri
S. It. Pradhan, Under Secre'ary to Government of Gujarat,
would
show that after the copy of the judgment was received and it was
examined to ascertain what further steps were required to be taken to
complete the process of acquisition consistent with the judgment of the
Supreme Court, the error was discovered and then the learned advo-.
cate was instructed to file review applications. This delay of a year and
few months in the context of the facts in this case cannot be said to be
unreasonable.
The third stage where the High Court found the delay in taking the
follow up action was after the grant of review application and before
the impugned notification dated 10th October 1967 was issued. This
Court allowed the review applications
on
13th September
196S.
Thereafter the Government directed a fresh
enquiry under s. SA.
This was done in fairness to the respondents, though Mr. D. V. Patel,
learned counsel for the respondents was rather critical of this fairness
of the Government inasmuch as he said that there was no necessity for
a fresh enquiry. Earlier enquiry under s. SA was in 1952. By this time
nearly 1S years had elapsed since the enquiry. If the Government in
the backdrop of these facts considered it fair and just to order a fresh
enquiry to give the respondenli; an opportunity to file fresh objections,
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ti1e Gorermnent cannot be accused of dithering or whiling away pre1
cious time on what was described as a futile exercise. This
second
enquiry under s. 5A was held after giving an opportunity as per notice
dated August 1, 1966, to file objections which in fact were filed on
August 31, 1966, and then a notice dated 30th December 1966 was
serveJ upon the respondents calling upon them to appear for personal
hearing on 12th January 1967. The enquiry was adjourned at the
requc't of the respondents 9 times as set out in the affidavit of Shri
G
S. R. Pradhan. The enquiry was over on 13th April 1967. During the
course of personal hearing the respondents appeared through their
advocates Sarvashri K. M. Vyas, A. L. Shah, V. R. Bhatt and N. D.
Pandey.
The last of the submissions appear to have been made on
li!th April 1967. Thereafter the enquiry officer submitted his report and
the Government took the prompt action of issuing the impugned notiH'
fication on 10th October 1967. Even here the High Court found a further unexplained delay after 13th September 1965 till 10th October
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1967 when the impugned notification was issued. The High Court
possibly
overlooked
the
aijidavit of Shri S. R. Pradhan when it
observed that there was no satisfactory answer to the question posed
by it, in the affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents. With respect,
it is not possible to subscribe to this view ()f the High Court in V,iew
of the facts clearly set out hereinabove.
It, therefore,
unmistakably transpires that in the facts and circumstances of this case
there was no delay, though apparently there appears a time lag of
nearly 15 years between s. 4 and s. 6 notifications because the events
in the interregnum clearly made it impossible for the Government to
issue a second s. 6 notification when it had already issued a first s. 6
notification within a period of Jess than one year from the date of the
issue of the s. 4 notification and the validity n( which was beyond
reproach till May 6, 1963.
Assuming that the High Court was right in rejecting the explanation
preferred by the Government for the delay in issuing the second s. 6
notification, would it still be fair to hold that there was an unreasonable delay in issuing the second s. 6 notification in view of the specific
provision contained in sub-s. (2) of s. 4 of the 1967 Amendment Act
which provides that notwithstanding anything contained in clause (b)
of sub-s. ( 1), no declaration under s. 6 of the principal Act in respect
of any land which has been notified before the commencement of the
Land Acquisition (Amendment & Validation) Ordinance, 1967, under
sub-s. (1) of s. 4 of the principal Act, shall be rnade after the expiry
of two years from the commencement of the Ordinance. The Ordinance
came into force on 20th January 1967. Simultaneously a proviso was
added to sub-s. (1) of s. 6 in the following terms :
"Provided that no declaration in respect of any particular
land covered by a notification under s. 4,. sub-s. (I) published after the commencement of the
Land
Acquisition
(Amendment & Validation) Ordinance, 1967, shall be made
after the expiry of three years from the date of such publication''.
A combined reading of the provisions contained in sub-s. (2) of s. 4
with the one contained in the proviso to sub-s. (1) of s. 6 introduced
by the Amendment Act would clearly put an end to the unsatisfactory
situat;on which troubled the High Court in this case. In view of the
'tatu'ory provision noticed herein the Government would be precluded
from making a declaration under s. 6 after the expiry of a period of
three years from the date of the issue of a no•ification
under s. 4
which may be issued after the Amendment Act came into force. And
in respect of those s. 4 notifications which were issued prior to the
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G. s. T. CORP. v. v. M. SONEJI (Desai,!.)
917
commencement of the Ordinance hereinabove noted on 20th January
1967 any notification which is required to be issued under s. 6 must
be made within a period of two years whereafter
as a necessary
corollary all s. 4 notifications issued prior to 20th January 1967 would
stand exhausted and would not provide either a source or reservoir for
i<lsuing s. 6 notification. Consequently the mischief sought to be set at
naught by the H:igh Court by reading by necessary implication in the
•Cherne of ss. 4, SA and 6 the concept of exercise of statutory power
within a reasonable time has been statutorily remedied. The apprehensions of the High Court that if not checkmated by implying that
such statutory power must be exercised within a reasonable time to
curb arbitrary exercise of power to the detriment of a citizen have
been taken note of by the legislature and fully met. Absence of any
decided case on the subject of which High Court took note could not
permit an inference as has been done by the High Court that in the
a~nee of a decided case the legislature woufd not remedy the possible mischief. Legislature often does take note of a possible abuse of
power by the executive and proceed to nip it in the bud by appropriate
legislation and that has been done in this case. There is now no more
possibility of a gap of more than three years between s. 4 and s. 6
notifications because any declaration made after the expiry of a period
of three years from the date on which s. 4 notification is
issued
would be invalid as being beyond the prescribed period.
These newly inserted provision5 were brought to the notice of the
High Court. Now, as pointed out earlier, the Ordinance came
into
force on 20th January 1967. The notification under s. 4 in this case
was prior to the commencement of the Ordinance. Therefore, the provision contained in sub-s. (2) s. 4 of the 1967 Amendment Act would
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be directly attracted. The Government could, therefore, make a declaF.
ration within a period of two years from 20th January 1967.
The
Government bas in fact issued the impugned notification under s. 6
on 10th October 1967, i.e. within the period
prescribed
by the
•tatute .
The question then is : when a statute confers power and presG
cribes time within which it can be exercised, could it ever he said that
even though the power is exercised within the statutory period yet
the Court can examine the question of delay and record a finding that
there was an unreasonable delay in exercise of the power and, therefore, the exercise of power is bad ? This approach would defeat the
very purpose for prescribing a sort of a period of limitation on exercise
H
of power. When a period is prescribed for exercise of power it manifest~ the legislative intention that the authority exercising the power
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~·ithin the prescribed time could not at least be accused of inaction
or dithering and, therefore, such exercise of power could not be said
to be bad or invalid on the only ground that there was unreasonable
delay in the exercise of the power. The very prescription
of time
inheres a belief that the nature and quantum of power and the manner in which it is to be exercised would consume at least that much
time which the statute prescribes as reasonable and, therefore, exercise
of power within that time could not be negatived on the only ground
of unreasonable delay. Therefore, in this case it is difficult to agree with
tl:e High Court that there was an unreasonable delay in exercise of
power and hence the exercise was either had or invalid.
The High Court by implication read a fetter on the power of the
Government to issue s. 6 notification within a reasonable time after the
issue of s. 4 notification after observing that there was no express provision that such power ought to be exercised within a reasonable time.
In raising this implication the High Court took into account the postulate that every statutory power must be exercised reasonably and a
reasonable exercise of power implies its exercise within a reasonable
time. Coupled with it two other factors were taken into consideration
such as the effect of issuing a s. 4 notification on the rights and obligations of the owner of the land whose land is proposed to be acquired;
the right of the Government to unilaterally cancel s. 4 notification in
the event of falling prices; history .of legislation; and delayed issue of
s.