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TMI Blog1984 (2) TMI 350X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... premises to the appellant who was her nearest relative. The appellant also addressed a letter dated 12th March 1951 to the Chief Officer of the Accommodation Department of the Government of Bombay requesting that he should be allotted the flat which was going to be vacated by N.C. Shah. It appears however that the request of the appellant was turned down by the State Government and ultimately the flat was requisitioned by an order dated 9th April 1951 made by the State Government in exercise of the powers conferred under clause (a) of sub-section (4) of section 6 of the Bombay Land Requisition Act 1948. This order of requisition did not set out the public purpose for which the flat was requisitioned. Now curiously enough, though it was decided by the State Government not to allot the flat to the appellant and his application for allotment was specifically reacted the Assistant Controller of Accommodation passsed an order on 25th April 1951 allotting the requisitioned flat to the appellant and pursuant to the order of allotment, the appellant entered into occupation of the flat. The appellant thereafter paid rent to Rukmanibai from time to time but the payment of rent was very irre ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r of requisition is made, it would be valid irrespective whether such public purpose is recited in the order of requisition or not. It has, in fact, been so held by this Court in State of Bombay v. Bhanji Munji Anr. (1) where Bose, J. speaking on behalf of the Court observed: In our opinion, it is not necessary to set out the purpose of the requisition in the order. The desirability of such a course is obvious because when it is not done, proof of the purpose must be given in other ways and that exposes the authorities to the kind of charges we find here and to the danger that the courts will consider them well founded. But in itself an omission to set out the purpose in the order is not fatal so long as the facts are established to the satisfaction of the court in some other way. The order of requisition could not therefore be successfully attacked on the ground that it did not set out the public purpose for which it was made. But, as pointed out by Bose, J. in the above dassage quoted from this judgment in Bhanji Munji's case (supra), the State Government would have to show that the order of requisition was made for a public purpose and the necessary facts showi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Constitution also recognised this distinction between Compulsory acquisition and requisitioning of property. The two concepts, one of requisition and the other of acquisition are totally distinct and independent. Acquisition means the acquiring of the entire title of the expropriated owner whatever the nature and extent of that title may be. The entire bundle of rights which was vested in the original holder passes on acquisition to the acquirer leaving nothing to the former. Vide: Observations of Mukherjee, J. in Chiranjitlal's case. The concept of acquisition has an air of permanence and finality in the there is transference of the title of the original holder to the acquiring authority. But the concept of requisition involves merely taking of domain or control over property without acquiring rights of ownership and must by its very nature be of temporary duration. If requisitioning of property could legitimately continue for an indefinite period of time, the distinction between requisition and acquisition would tend to become blurred, because in that event for all practical purposes the right to possession and enjoyment of the property which constitutes a major constitu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on in a given case, because ultimately the answer to this question must depend on the facts and circumstances of each case but there can be no doubt that whatever be the public purpose for which an order of requisition is made the period of time for which the order of requisition may be continued cannot be an unreasonably long period such as thirty years. The High Court was, therefore, in any view of the matter, right in holding that in the circumstances the order of requisition could not survive any longer and the State Government was bound to revoke the order of requisition and deregulation the flat and to take steps to evict the appellant from the flat and to hand over vacant possession of it to the 3rd respondent. There was also one other contention urged on behalf of the appellant in a desperate attempt to protect his possession of the flat and that contention was, since he had paid rent of the flat to Rukmanibai and such rent was accepted by her, he had become a direct tenant of Rukmanibai and the order of requisition had become totally irrelevant so far as as his possession of the flat is concerned. This contention is, in our opinion, wholly unfounded. The appellant admit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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