Valid statutory notice requires full factual disclosure; inquiry cannot exceed the grounds stated, and extra grounds void the declaration.

A notice under section 7 of the Administration of Evacuee Property Act, 1950 must disclose the factual grounds required by rule 6 with sufficient particularity to enable an effective reply; a notice that merely reproduces the form is invalid. The inquiry cannot lawfully extend beyond the grounds stated in the notice, and a declaration based on additional grounds is without jurisdiction to that extent. The Court also noted the absence of material showing proper satisfaction before initiation. The notice and subsequent proceedings were quashed, and the declaration of evacuee status was set aside.

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Issues: Whether a notice under section 7 of the Administration of Evacuee Property Act, 1950 was valid when it did not state the factual particulars required by rule 6 of the Administration of Evacuee Property (Central) Rules, 1950 and whether an inquiry and declaration extending beyond the grounds mentioned in the notice could be sustained.

Analysis: Section 7 authorises a declaration of evacuee property only after notice and inquiry, and rule 6 requires the notice to state, as far as practicable, the grounds on which the property is sought to be declared evacuee property. The notice issued in the case merely reproduced the prescribed form and did not disclose the particulars necessary to meet the case against the appellant. It referred only to clause (iii) of section 2(d), yet the authority ultimately declared evacuee status under clauses (i), (ii), and (iii). A proceeding under section 7 must rest on a valid notice, and the inquiry cannot travel beyond the scope of that notice. The record also showed absence of material indicating proper satisfaction before initiating the proceeding.

Conclusion: The notice was invalid, the declaration made on grounds beyond the notice was without jurisdiction to that extent, and the proceedings based on the notice could not stand.

Final Conclusion: The impugned notice and all subsequent proceedings were quashed, and the appellant succeeded in setting aside the declaration of evacuee status.

Ratio Decidendi: A notice required as the foundation of statutory proceedings must disclose the factual basis sufficiently to enable an effective reply, and any inquiry or declaration that goes beyond the grounds stated in that notice is void for want of jurisdiction.

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