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TMI Blog1987 (10) TMI 375X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ') by exercising its power under section 48 but the owner of the land is insisting that the Government should be directed to go ahead with the acquisition, taken over the lands and pay him compensation. The reasons for this some-what unusual request will become apparent a little later. By a notification dated 6th November, 1961, issued under section 4 of the Act, certain lands belonging to the respondent company were notified for acquisition in order to accommodate housing schemes of the Maharashtra Housing Board. This was followed up, on 18th November, 1965, by a declaration under section 6 of the Act and, on 15th January, 1966, by notices calling upon the respondent to put forward its claims of compensation in respect of the land sou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as that the State Government had acted mala fide in invoking the power of withdrawal permitted by section 48 in the facts and circumstances of the present case. It was contended that the purpose for which the lands had been sought to be acquired continued to subsist and that, all along, in the correspondence between the parties the State Government had given no indication that the lands were no longer needed by it for that purpose. It was urged that the order under section 48 had been passed, after the respondent company filed a writ petition, solely with a view to defeat the relief claimed by the Company in the writ petition and render the same infructuous. It was submitted that the A respondent had not been able to take steps to remove th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nt of time, the land continues to be with the original owner and he is also free (except where there is specific legislation to the contrary) to deal with the land just as he likes, although it may be that on account of the pendency of proceedings for acquisition intending purchasers may be chary of coming near the land. So long as possession is not taken over, the mere fact of a notification under section 4 nor declaration under section 6 having been made does not divest the owner of his rights in respect of the land or relieve him of the duty to take care of the land and protect it against encroachments. Again, such a notification does not either confer on the State Govt. any right to interfere with the ownership or other rights in the la ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... easons for a decision not to go ahead with its proposal to acquire a piece of land. It is well settled in the field of specific performance of contracts that no person will be compelled to acquire a piece of land as any breach of a contract to purchase it can always be compensated for by damages. That is also the principle of section 48(2). But this consideration apart, and even assuming that a withdrawal order under section 48 should be backed by reasons and should be bona fide, we are of the opinion that in the present case the order is not vitiated in any manner. The Government had intended to acquire a vast piece of vacant land for construction of houses by the State Housing Board. But this land had been over-run by slum dwellers to suc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ularise" them and provide them with civic necessities, Enactments like the Slums Act and the Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act have further complicated the situation. Where slum dwellers on a large scale occupy pieces of land, social and human problems of such magnitude arise that it is virtually impossible for municipalities, and no mean task even for the Government, to get the lands vacated. If the Government is reluctant to go ahead with the acquisition in view of these genuine difficulties, it can hardly be blamed. We see no justification to direct the Government to acquire the land and embark on such a venture. We are also of the opinion that the fact that the Government exercised the power of withdrawal after the writ petitio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... could not any longer be used for the purpose for which it had been acquired, it decided to go ahead with the acquisition. We are emphatically of the view that the State Government has acted in best interests of the public and of public revenues and its decision cannot be faulted. Before we conclude we may point out that somewhat similar questions came up for the decision of this Court in an appeal preferred by the State of Maharashtra, from an order of the Bombay High Court reported as M/s. Majas Land Development Corpn. & another v. State of Maharashtra and others, AIR 1983 Bombay 188. The special leave petition preferred by the State against the order of the High Court to a like effect was set aside by this Court, vide its order of August ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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