Chand Kumar Kapur v. Chief Settlement Commissioner Punjab & Ors.

Judgment

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : CiVi.l Appeal No. 2057 of 1970. F•om the Judgment and order dated 5th March, 1970 of the Punjab & Haryana High Court at Chandi$arh in L. P.A. No. 159 of 1968. Harbans Lal and Vinoo Bh~gat for the Appellant. S. K. Bagga for the Respondents. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by RANGANATH MISRA, J. The only question which arises for co~- - sideration of this Conrt in this appeal by ~y of special leave under Article 136 of the Constitution against the Judgment of the Punjab & Haryan:a High. Court in: Letters Patent Appeal is as to whether the Managing Officer operating underthe Displaced Persons (Compens~- 1 C.K. KAPUR v. SETTLEMENT COMMISSIONER (Ranganath Misra, J.) tion & Rehabilitatfon) Act, 1954 ('1954 Act' for short), could ca9cel the allotment made in favour ofthe appellant under the Ea.st Punjab .

Administration of E~acuee Property Act, 1947 ('P;injab Act' for short) and schemes framed thereunder. · Appellant, an evacuee from West Pakistan owned agricultural lrnd in DlstrictLyallpur. As a displaced person he was·allotted a little more than six standard acress of land iri Village Kotla, Tehsil J ulJundur in Punjab under the quasi-permanent scheme. In 195:2 the Director of Rehabilitation ,snbn:iitted a propo?al to the Financial Commissioner, Relief and Rehabilitation-cum-Custodian that premium cut of. 5 villages, viz., Sufi Pind, Obin, Barring Khusropur and Alladinpur be enhanced from 18.3/4% to 50% as similarly situated .villages near Jullundm City carried a cut of 50%. This proposal also suggested that . in two other neighbouring villages, viz., Shekhpind and Kotla where· no premium cut had been applied· earlier, a similar cut of 50% should be applied. This was on the footing that these lands abutted the Jullundur Mi.micipalarea and had semi"urban character:

This proposal :was accepted by the Commissioner as also by the Governor of the State "before 2nd July !952 when rule 14 (6) ·of the Evacuee Property (Central) .Rules, 1950 was amended and in respect of qua_si-permanent allottces cancellation ,;,as permitted only on grounds set out in rule 14(6). The allottees of Sheikh P;;1d 0and Kotla.villages challenge:! .the orders implementing the policy decisio~. of cut of 50% Lefore the hierarchy of rehabilitation authorities and moved the Eigh Court by filing a writ petition. When .that writ petition was dismissed, special leai<e was obtained from this Court and the Court found that after comi 11g into force of the 1954 Act and the Notification made on March ·.24, 1955, under s. 12 of the Act,.the lands 1lready allotted to displaced persons ceased to be evacuee.property arid !iad becom~ part of the pool created .under the I 9§4 Act. Power was not a'"ilabie to be exercised · under the 1950 Act.

Sub8'quently steps were taken to enforce the cut and a writ petidon was moved bofore the High Court. When the single judge dismissed the petition, and appeal was taken to the Division Bench and four contentions were advanced on behalf of the appellant andeach ·one was negatived arid the appeal was dismisstd. It may be stated that that appeal was heard along with 19 others raising common questions of ·fact and law; Against this ;:on firming decision of.the Division Bench, leave having been ohtained from this Court, the present appeal has been filed. [1984]2 S.C.R .. Admittedly, the lands allotted to the appellant in village Katia .are close t6 the Municipal limits of the town of Jullundur and this being a 'lllesiion of fact; has not rightly been disputed before us. The B.igh Court has fo.•10d :

"It deserves. notice that the proceedings for the enhance- • m~nt of the valuation of the la~d ofthe village and the. :· consquent r.ii~ing.ofthe cut fo 50 per cenf were initi.ated. as ,early .as the year 195!. After due verification by·· the subordinate Rehabilitation Authorities by actual ··i.sits on the spot, the prop,;sal to .enhance the cut was finally approved by the Director General of Rehabilitation ·and subsequently r.eceived the seal of approval by the order of the .Governor on the 3rd February 1952. The significant fact is that· sub'cfause (6) of rule 14 on which main reliance is befog placed was substituted for the. old sub-rule by notification . No. S .. R.O. 1290 dated the 22nd July -1952 ...

Itwould thus ·appear that at the ti mo when the proceedings were initiated and tiie final order dated the 3rd February 1952, was passed, · the rdJvant provisions of sub-clause (6) of rule 14 were nof. yet on the statute book and the actio11 Hken prior to their promulgation was thus pe~iectly valid a1;d i-n accord.ancewith law, T'1e order dated the. 3rd o( February 1952, therefore, d.id not· have to conform ·to a·. provision which has been . . in'.roduced subsequently. ·It was 1ioi the contention of the lear.1,.d.counsel that sub-clause (6):above said is to take effect retrospectively nor do we find· anything in the said rule to. ·accord any such effect tll the same.~' · On· the aforesaid finding the High C:ourt h~ld \hat the scheme stood altered. · We approve of this view taken by ihe High Court. Strong , r:\liance had qeen placed !Jy appellant's counsel on Basant Ra>n r. · 'Union of lndia,(l) Hukum chaild etc. v. Union ef India & On.(') and Hoshnak Singh v. Union'of lnaia & Ors(!).

In Basant Ram's case thi•. C01i~t decided that the approval of.the Central Government_.on the ,basis of which the N~tification of March 24, 1955. had been made was misconceived inasmuch as with the coming into force of the 1954 Act· the Administration of Evacuee Property Act, 1950 (Central Act -31 (I) [1962] 2 Suppl. S.C.R. 733 (2) [1973] 1 S.C.R. 896 · (3) (1979] 3 S.C,K. 399 I C.K. KAPUR ·v.· s~TLEMEN~ coMM1ss10NER (Ranganat,1 Misra, .f.) . 5 of .·i950) stood repealed .and the e~acuee· property; subject to the Act of 1950, had 6ecome a part of the compe.nsation: pool under the.AC! o( 1954. We agre~ witfi the apalysis of that decision by the High court. So fa~ as the second .case is concerned; the question that· fCJI for. con'"· sideration was whether.tules ~med by it could be given retrospective . ·operation by the Central Government. when the siatute either expressly or by necessary .implication had riot authorised rules to be. made with. retrospective effect.

So far as the lastcqse is concerned, the facts which gave rise to the dispute were very different and-ihe ratio (hereof has · . no application' to the present set of facts. ' ln dealing wit.h a matter. of th-is type the broad perspective of .. the scheme has to be 'kept in view. People who were uprooted from ·Pakistan and b~eame displaced persons were to be compensated on the .footing that they had. left behipd lands.in Pakistan and lan~s of · people who had left India for ,Pakistan had become evacuee properly_ and the compensation to .the displaced persons could be by settlement of ouch fands. In ·a case of \1is. type no one can liiok for undt\e enrichment_. Once iI ·is held as a fact,' that. the properties are semi:· · · urban and admittedly· this .had not been kept in view wl].en original allotment had been. made .it should· always be possible to. make an adjJstment. Such anadjustmeni'is just and fair.

It is ·appropriate to take.note of a very significant feature,'name!y, there were 117 allottees. in these'viilag-'8 which were declared sub'urban and 97 of these allottees paid the extra premium, and.were allowed to acquire the entire land given to th.eln; Twenty allottees including the appellant took steps 'to challenge the decision regarding levy of premium as also cut in the allotments: There is ·no jusiification as to, why any differntial treatment should he shown to these twenty alfottees particularly when all the 117. allottees stood at par so.' far. as the application of "the : decisio.n contained in the order dated February 3, 01952.is concerned.· We do not know ifunder the changed circumstance the sa'me benefit is ·t · ·available to be extended to the ippella.nt now, viz., permitting him to' pay the extra premium at present.

More. than 30 "years have passed and with the passage of such a length of time changed situations must have. come lo prevail. ·We s~e no justification to accept the appeal and allow the benefit claimed by the appellant. But our dismissal of the appeal should not preclude the resp0 n~ent authorities from . entertaining' the ofter by.the appellant, if made, to pay the ejttra premium and/or any further demand with a view to obtaining a law~ul · settlement of the entire NOperty without cut on the· basis of the initial .• allotment. we make no order for costs in this ·appeal. N.V.K · "Appeal dismls11~ ..