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TMI Blog2008 (7) TMI 944X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... appellants by the original land holders by execution of the sale deed, therefor are illegal and without jurisdiction. We have no hesitation in our mind in holding that no title could be conveyed or could pass to the appellants on the basis of such transfer and also that consequential mutation in favour of the appellants for the above reasons is found and held to be without jurisdiction. There was no valid transfer in favour of the appellants and, therefore, there is no question of issuing any direction to the respondents to allot any alternative land to the appellants. So far as the prayer for granting liberty to the appellants to make an application under Sections 4 and 5 of the Delhi Lands Act is concerned, we do not make any observation thereto except for saying that if a statutory remedy is provided for to a person, he is always entitled to take recourse to such remedy in accordance with law. Appeal dismissed. - CIVIL APPEAL NOS. 3413-3414 OF 2001, (Arising out of SLP(C) Nos.11233-11234 of 2001) CIVIL APPEAL NO. 6493 OF 2002 CIVIL APPEAL NO. 6494 OF 2002 CIVIL APPEAL NO. 6496 OF 2002 - - - Dated:- 15-7-2008 - JUDGMENT Dr. MUKUNDAKAM SHARMA, J. 1. Leave granted ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... isition Act and subsequent Notification under Section 9, were challenged by various land holders whose lands were proposed to be acquired by the aforesaid notifications. The appellants/predecessor in-interest of the appellants also filed similar writ petitions in the High Court of Delhi challenging the legality and validity of the notification and declaration under which their land was proposed to be acquired. Smt. Meera Sahni filed a Civil Writ Petition No.1003 of 1983, Smt. Padma Mahant filed Civil Writ Petition No.1002 of 1983 and whereas Writ Petition No.1086 of 1983 was filed by Shri Khyali Ram, the predecessor in-interest of other three appellants, namely, (1) Sapphire Sales (P) Ltd. (2) Zircon Trading (P) Ltd. and (3) Eternal Agencies Pvt. Ltd. The said writ petitions were finally heard along with few other letters patent appeals, and all the writ petitions and the letters patent appeals were dismissed. The said decision was rendered By the Delhi High Court on 01.12.1995 under the title Roshanara Begum v. Union of India reported in 61 (1996) DLT 206. Being aggrieved by the said judgment and order the writ petitioners preferred appeals in this Court. Some of the cases which w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was finally decided in the case of Roshanara Begum (Supra) in the year 1995. 9. The Full Bench of the High Court considered the said review and writ petitions filed by Mrs.Meera Sahni and Mrs. Padma Mahant and dismissed the same with costs under Order dated 21.12.2000. Three writ petitions filed by the afore-mentioned companies were taken up for consideration by the learned Single Judge of the High Court and same were dismissed by an order dated 27.2.2002. Appeals filed by them were heard by the Division Bench of the High Court and same were also dismissed on 22.3.2002. Being aggrieved by the said orders the present special leave petitions were filed. 10. The appellants were represented before us by Dr. Abhishek M. Singhvi, Mr. Vijay Hansaria and Mr. Anoop G. Choudhary, learned senior counsel, who took great pains in placing before us the various relevant documents. It was submitted by them that in terms of the provisions of the Delhi Lands Act read with the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, requisite permission was granted by the competent authority to all the appellants herein to purchase the aforesaid land from the original land owners or predecessors in- interest o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a piece of land is sought to be acquired, a notification under Section 4 of Land Acquisition Act is required to be issued by the State Government strictly in accordance with law. The said notification is also required to be followed by a declaration to be made under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act and with the issuance of such a notification any encumbrance created by the owner, or any transfer made after the issuance of such a notification would be deemed to be void and would not be binding on the government. A number of decisions of this Court have recognized the aforesaid proposition of law wherein it was held that subsequent purchaser cannot challenge acquisition proceedings and also the validity of the notification or the irregularity in taking possession of the land after the declaration under Section 6 of the Act. In U.P. Jal Nigam, Lucknow through its Chairman and another vs. Kalra Properties (P) Ltd., Lucknow and others reported in (1996) 3 SCC 124 it was stated by this Court that: 3. ............Having regard to the facts of this case, we were not inclined to further adjourn the case nor to remit the case for fresh consideration by the High Court. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... land. Some of these unscrupulous property dealers would sometime go to the extent of encouraging transfer by way of sale, mortgage, gift or lease of the land which is already acquired or for which acquisition proceedings are initiated by the government. The Central Government being conscious of such situation and position and in order to impose restrictions and to prevent such large scale transactions or purported transactions brought in a special legislation called the Delhi Lands (Restrictions on Transfer) Act, 1972. 15. The aforesaid Delhi Lands Act was brought in as stated, in the body of the Act, to prohibit any transfer by way of sale, mortgage, gift, lease or otherwise, of any land which is the subject matter of acquisition or in respect of which acquisition proceeding is initiated or proposed to be initiated except by way of seeking and obtaining previous permission in writing from the competent authority. It is true that the said special act dealing with restrictions on transfer of land in Delhi envisages certain parameters which if satisfied would permit a land holder to transfer his land to a third party but such transfer is possible only when prior permission in wri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the Scheme. (ii) that the land is needed or is likely to be needed for securing the objects of the Delhi Development Authority referred to in section 6 of the Development Act. (iii) that the land is needed or is likely to be needed for any development within the meaning of clause (d) of section 2 of the Development Act or for such things as public buildings and other public works and utilities, roads, housing, recreation, industry, business, markets, schools and other educational institutions, hospitals and public open spaces and other categories of public uses. (4) Where the competent authority refuses to grant the permission applied for, it shall record in writing the reasons for doing so and a copy of the same shall be communicated to the applicant. (5) Where within a period of thirty days of the date of receipt of an application under this section the competent authority does not refuse to grant the permission applied for or does not communicate the refusal to the application, the competent authority shall be deemed to have granted permission applied for. Section 6 of the said Act, on the other hand, envisages filing of an appeal by any aggrieve ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ders passed by the Tehsildar (Notification) on behalf of Additional District Magistrate (Land Acquisition) Delhi allegedly granting permission for transfer and alleged NOC obtained by the predecessors in-interest of the appellants are also placed on record by the appellants to fortify their arguments that the orders were passed by the competent authority under the provisions of the Act and also to support their claim that the transaction of sale was performed validly and that the land stood transferred in their favour with mutations granted. 17. What was placed by the appellants before us in support of their claim were two non statutory formats. One of the formats was under the caption Statement to be furnished to the Registering Officer for Ensuring non contravention of Section 8 of the Delhi Lands Registration of Transfer Act, 1972 and the other format, allegedly an order to be passed by the Tehsildar or an Additional District Magistrate. In order to properly appreciate, one of the letter/permission is extracted herein below: OFFICE OF THE ADDITIONAL DISTRICT MAGISTRATE(LA) DELHI No 4173 (The Notification) Dated 27/5/92 To ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ary (L B) Delhi Administration The competent authority as envisaged under Section 2(b) of the aforesaid Act is, therefore, the Additional District Magistrate (Revenue), Delhi Administration and he is the only authorized competent person to exercise the powers vested under sections 5, 6 and 8 of the Delhi lands Act. No other authority or anyone else, subordinate to him was ever authorized to exercise the aforesaid power. 18. On perusal of the documents placed on record we find that the permission/NOC which is referred to and relied on by all the appellants herein appears to have been issued not by the Additional District Magistrate, who is the competent authority in the present case. The same appears to have been issued by some person signing for Tehsildar and for Additional District Magistrate. In any case Tehsildar is also not authorized to act as a competent authority as envisaged under Section 5, 6 and 8 of the Delhi Lands Act. Neither were we informed nor was any evidence placed on record identifying the authority or the person on whose instructions the aforesaid two documents were prepared. Therefore, the aforesaid documents which are relied on cannot be said to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... this Court in State of U.P. v. Singhara Singh AIR 1964 SC 358 and the rule laid down in Nazir Ahmad case (supra) was again upheld. This rule has since been applied to the exercise of jurisdiction by courts and has also been recognised as a salutary principle of administrative law. 21. The Registering Officer who is required to register a document whereby the land is purported to be transferred by sale, mortgage, gift, lease or otherwise was statutorily under an obligation not to register any such document unless the person seeking to transfer the land produces before such registering officer a legal, valid and statutory permission in writing of the competent authority for such transfer. The aforesaid exception provided in the Delhi Lands Act for grant of permission despite acquisition is a statutory exception and should be construed strictly in the light of the said provisions, namely, in the light of provisions of Sections 5 and 8 of the Delhi Lands Act. In the sale deeds referred to and relied upon by the appellants it was stipulated and mentioned that no notifications under Sections 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act have been issued in relation to the land in question prior ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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