TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2007 (2) TMI 637
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....al Zaverchand Doshi (since deceased) who has been represented through his heirs and legal representatives and Chandravadan Pranlal Doshi were owners of certain lands situate at village Mouje Parvati, Taluka Haveli, District Pune in the State of Maharashtra. On February 17, 1976, the Act came into force in the State of Maharashtra. The owners of the land filed a statement under sub-section (1) of Section 6 of the Act in the prescribed form on August 14, 1976. The Competent Authority, Pune Urban Agglomeration prepared draft statement under sub-section (1) of Section 8 of the Act. The draft statement was sought to be served in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (3) of Section 8 of the Act. An order was passed by the Competent Authority on April 20, 1977 under sub- section (4) of Section 8 of the Act observing therein that a notice under Section 8(3) of the Act was issued and sent to the declarant by Registered A.D. but it was received back 'undelivered'. It was also observed that the notice was properly sent at the address given by the declarant and hence the owner was treated as 'served'. Since the declarant had not raised any objection nor he remained pres....
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....ent Gazette on August 24, 1978 and the land specified in the Schedule had absolutely vested in the Government of Maharashtra. It was further stated that since the owners were in possession of the land, they were required to surrender and deliver possession thereof within 30 days to the Tehsildar, Pune City who was duly authorized by the State Government to take it. It was also stated that in the event of their failure or refusal to surrender the possession by the owners, appropriate steps would be taken to take possession of the land by use of force. It appears that original owners of the land preferred an appeal under Section 33 of the Act in the Court of Collector and Appellate Authority under the Act at Pune on February 20, 1979. The said appeal was against an order passed under sub-section (3) of Section 10 of the Act. It may be stated that so far as the order declaring the land as excess land under the Act as also issuance of final statement are concerned, no challenge was made to them. In the Memorandum of Appeal, it was stated that the enquiry under sub-section (2) of Section 10 was pending. It was also stated that the property was not being utilized by the Pune Municipal Co....
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....f P.Z. Doshi, one of the owners of the land, preferred an appeal to the Government under Section 34 of the Act. It was stated therein that the land was jointly owned by P.Z. Doshi and G.P. Doshi and it consisted of 'a built-up bungalow of about 500 sq. meters'. The bungalow was existing on the land since long i.e. when the land was purchased. It was further stated that since the land attracted the provisions of the Act, the owners had filed return (statement) under Section 6(1) of the Act. The Competent Authority, Pune Urban Agglomeration, while deciding the case, should have accorded two units i.e. 1,000 sq. meters each to P.Z. Doshi and C.P. Doshi to make total of 2,000 sq. meters. The authority, however, had granted only one unit of 1,000 sq. meters. A copy of the order under sub-section (4) of Section 8 was also enclosed by the appellants for ready reference. A grievance was also made that the Competent Authority had not considered the build-up property of bungalow required to be excluded from the total holding together with the land appurtenant and additional land appurtenant. Thus, gross injustice had been done to the owners. A prayer was, therefore, made to the Gover....
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....nership documents to the Competent Authority and prima facie, the order of the Competent Authority dated April 28, 1977 was 'wrong'. In exercise of power under Section 34 of the Act, therefore, the said order was set aside and the case was remitted for reconsideration to Additional Collector and Competent Authority, Pune. It was directed that the applicant should be given sufficient opportunity by Additional Collector and Competent Authority, Pune before deciding the matter. It may be stated that neither the owners joined the appellantPune Municipal Corporation as party respondent, nor notice was issued, nor opportunity of hearing was afforded to the Corporation by the Revisional Authority though it was stated in the Revision itself that the land was allotted to the Corporation and the Corporation was proceeding with construction thereon. In view of the fact that the revision was allowed and the order passed by the Competent Authority was set aside without making the Corporation a party and without affording opportunity of being heard, the Corporation filed a writ petition in the High Court of Bombay. The petition came up for hearing before the Division Bench and the Divi....
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....An appeal filed by the owners under Section 33 was dismissed in August, 1979. The said order was never challenged by the owners by approaching the High Court. Revisional jurisdiction was invoked thereafter in 1990 i.e. after more than ten years of disposal of the appeal. (Though it was described as an appeal under Section 34 of the Act) Even that petition was dismissed. Surprisingly after more than three years, second revision petition was filed which was allowed by the Revisional Authority and the order of the Competent Authority was set aside. The counsel also submitted that though the land declared to be excess under the Act and vested in the Government was granted to appellant- Corporation and the owners were aware of the fact and had also filed a suit in the Court of Civil Judge, Senior Division, Pune in 1979 and had obtained 'status quo' order, they did not think it proper to join Corporation as party opponent, nor the Revisional Authority thought it appropriate to issue notice and to afford hearing to the Corporation. The order passed by the Revisional Authority, therefore, was violative of principles of natural justice and fair play. The Corporation, therefore, appr....
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....e Municipal Corporation applied for land and the State Government asked the Corporation to pay occupancy price of Rs. 1,45,000/- which was paid by the Corporation in February, 1979. So far as the order passed under Section 8 of the Act is concerned, it was never challenged by the land owners in the appeal. An appeal which was filed by the land owners in 1979 was an appeal against an order passed under Section 10(3) of the Act. The Appellate Authority, therefore, rightly held such appeal to be not maintainable. If the land owners were aggrieved by the order passed under Section 8 of the Act, either they should have challenged the order before the Appellate Authority or before the Revisional Authority. The Land owners did neither. The order, therefore, became final. More than a decade had passed thereafter. In 1990, land owners, through one Power of Attorney (Shaikh Issaqua Shaikh Gafoor) approached Revisional Authority under Section 34 of the Act by filing an appeal (revision) which was dismissed on the ground of maintainability. Again, the said order had not been challenged. After more than three years, through another Power of Attorney, (Ashok Milapchand Jain) second revision was ....
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.... above provision makes it clear that revision is not an additional remedy over and above remedy of appeal under Section 33 of the Act. Section 34 of the Act authorizes the State Government to exercise revisional jurisdiction in those cases in which "no appeal has been preferred". Thus, the remedy of revision is alternative to appeal and not additional or supplementary. The learned counsel for the appellant-Corporation is also right in contending that the Revisional Authority ought to have considered the fact that such jurisdiction was invoked by the petitioner after several years. It may be recalled that the first appeal filed by the land-owners was not against an order under Section 8 of the Act but against the notification under Section 10 of the Act, which was dismissed on the ground of maintainability. Likewise, the first revision filed in the year 1990 was dismissed as not maintainable in 1991. Now it is true that no period for revision is provided in the Act. It was, therefore, submitted on behalf of the land-owners that when the Legislature did not think it fit to prescribe period of limitation, such power can be exercised 'at any time' and no Court by a 'judic....
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....211 and 65 together it seems to us that the Commissioner must exercise his revisional powers within a few months of the order of the Collector. This is reasonable time because after the grant of the permission for building purposes the occupant is likely to spend money on starting building operations at least within a few months from the date of the permission. In this case the Commissioner set aside the order of the 'Collector on October 12, 1961, i.e. more than a year after the order, and it seems to us that this order was passed too late". (emphasis supplied) The law laid down in Patel Raghav Natha has been reiterated by this Court in several cases. We do not intend to burden our judgment with all those cases. We may only state that broad contention of the land owners that when no period of limitation is prescribed, revisional jurisdiction can be exercised at any time cannot but be rejected. If the law prescribes period of limitation, the action must be taken within such period. But where the law does not prescribe limitation, the Court would import the concept of 'reasonable time'. We may, however, hasten to add that what is the length of the reasonable time would d....
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....#39;affected' party. When the land was assigned to Corporation and Corporation made the payment of price, by no stretch of imagination, it can be said that the Corporation was not 'affected' party. From the record, it was clear that possession was handed over by the State and was taken over by the Corporation. The Corporation was proceeding to put up construction on the land which compelled the land-owners to institute a suit and to obtain order of status quo. The High Court in the circumstances, ought to have allowed the petition by setting aside the order of the Revisional Authority, by directing it to issue notice to the Corporation, to afford hearing and to pass appropriate order on merits. By not doing so, the High Court has committed the same error which had been committed by the Government and the order of the High Court also cannot be sustained. The High Court was also wrong in referring to and relying upon Gadde Venkateswara Rao v. Government of Andhra Pradesh & Ors., AIR 1966 SC 828 and also Maharaja Chintamani Saran Nath Shahdeo v. State of Bihar & Ors., 1999 (8) SCC 16 for the proposition that allowing a petition of the Corporation would result in reviving....
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....edings are taken at law to establish the cause of invalidity and to get it quashed or otherwise upset, it will remain as effective for its ostensible purpose as the most impeccable of orders". (emphasis supplied) A similar question came up for consideration before this Court in State of Punjab & Ors.. v. Gurdev Singh, (1991) 4 SCC 1. In Gurdev Singh, a suit for declaration was instituted by the plaintiff contending that the order dismissing him from service was ultra vires, unconstitutional, violative of principles of natural justice and void ab initio and he continued to be in service. Such suit, in accordance with the provisions of Article 113 of the Limitation Act, 1963, must be filed within three years from the date of passing of order or where departmental appeal or revision is filed from the date of dismissal of such appeal/revision. The suit was, however, filed beyond the period of three years. The High Court held that since the order was void, the provisions of Limitation Act would not apply to such order. The aggrieved State approached this Court. Setting aside the decree passed by all the Courts and referring to several cases, this Court held that if the party aggrieved b....
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....ers as to why appropriate order should not be passed under the Act after hearing them. There can be no two opinions about it. The State has to act fairly. But the State or a public authority must be fair not to one party but to all the parties to the litigation. In the present case, an order was passed by the Competent Authority in 1977, and in 1979, the land vested in the State, possession was taken over from land-owners, application was made by the Pune Municipal Corporation, land was allotted to it, an amount of Rs. 1,45,000/- was paid by the Corporation, possession was handed over to the Corporation and Corporation was undertaking construction activities. An appeal by the land-owners was dismissed in 1979 and revision, which was filed after more than ten years met with the same fate. The State Government was, therefore, expected to issue a notice and afford hearing to the Corporation when second revision petition was filed by the land-owners. The Government was aware of all the above facts which were on record. It was also alive of the fact that a Civil Suit was filed before more than ten years in 1979 and status quo order was obtained by the land-owners. Therefore, when it was....