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2018 (4) TMI 487

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....uddha P. Mayee, AOR, Ms. Anu Gupta, AOR, Mr. Rakesh Dahiya, AOR, Mr. Satya Mitra, AOR, Mrs. Prabha Swami, AOR, Mr. Vikas Singh Jangra, AOR, Ms. Jennifer Rohita Xavier, Adv., Ms. S. Lakshmi, Adv., Mrs. Sudha Gupta, AOR, Mr. Sridhar Potaraju, AOR, Mr. Prabhat Kumar, Adv., Ms. Ankita Sharma, Adv., Mr. Udai Khanna, Adv. And Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR JUDGMENT A.K.SIKRI, J. Appellant No.1, Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited, is a public sector undertaking incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956. Appellant Nos. 2 and 3 are its office bearers. The main object of the appellant-Corporation is to develop industrial areas at various places in the State of Andhra Pradesh and allot them to the needy entrepreneurs for the purpose of establishing industries. 2. During 1996-97, the appellant-Corporation allotted industrial plots to the respondents/ entrepreneurs herein at Visakhapatnam and other places in the State of Andhra Pradesh. All the respondents are transport companies with their headquarters all over India and they got allotted the aforesaid plots in Visakhapatnam or other places in the State with the purpose of having branch offices. Intention was to construc....

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....dents had failed to establish their industrial units on the said plots within the stipulated period and had kept them idle which was detrimental to the industrial development. The respondents submitted their separate replies to these showcause notices wherein, broadly speaking, the position was taken that the appellant-Corporation did not provide basic infrastructure facilities like roads, water, electricity and, therefore, the plots could not be utilised for the purpose of construction of godowns. 4. Interestingly, the aforesaid facilities were provided in the year 2006 only, i.e. after the issuance of show-cause notices and replies thereto by the respondents. In these circumstances, the respondents applied for permission to construct the godowns. Vide letter dated January 20, 2006, the appellant-Corporation approved the building plans, in pursuance whereof the respondents commenced construction. However, thereafter, the appellant-Corporation passed orders dated March 28, 2006 stating therein that there was no justification for not establishing industrial/business units within the time specified in the allotment letters and passed orders cancelling the allotments made to the res....

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....he learned Single Judge. Not satisfied with this outcome, the present appeals are preferred. 9. In nutshell, reasoning of the High Court is that the allotment was made to the respondents followed by agreements of sale and thereafter sale deeds were also executed by the appellant- Corporation conveying right, title and interest absolutely, to the respondents. When the contract is concluded and regular sale deed is executed between the vendor and vendee in respect of an immovable property, it cannot be said that the dispute arises in the realm of a statutory contract or non-statutory contract. The dispute is not with regard to the contract. It is in effect the question of title which is sought to be nullified by the appellant- Corporation unilaterally based on conditions of allotment and the same is not permissible in law. 10. It was further held that the appellant-Corporation offered industrial plots and the respondents/entrepreneurs gave counter offer which was accepted by it. At that stage, the conditions of offer, counter offer and acceptance found expression in the allotment letter (acceptance of offer subject to conditions) and in the agreement of sale (contract of sale) in t....

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....once the sale deed is registered, the seller has no such enforceable right to demand more money and this demand was not backed by any law. We may also point out that the appellant-Corporation had relied upon the judgment of this Court in Indu Kakkar v. Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. & Anr. (1999) 2 SCC 37. The High Court, however, took the view that the aforesaid judgment had no application to the facts of these cases at hand. 13. Before us, arguments of Mr. Basava Prabhu Patil, learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant-Corporation, remained the same which were advanced before the High Court. It was contended that even if there was a sale in favour of the respondents by execution of the sale deed, the seller (appellant- Corporation) could impose a condition in the said sale deed, which the buyer was under obligation to fulfill as sale was coupled with the said condition. It was argued that judgment of this Court in Indu Kakkar's case had decided the same question, which was in favour of the appellant, and the High Court has distinguished the said judgment on erroneous grounds. It was also argued that the judgment of this Court in Teri Oat Estates (P....

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.... doors, windows, and all other things provided for permanent use therewith; and, where the property is a debt or other actionable claim, the securities therefor (except where they are also for other debts or claims not transferred to the transferee), but not arrears of interest accrued before the transfer; and, where the property is money or other property yielding income, the interest or income thereof accruing after the transfer takes effect. 10. Condition restraining alienation - Where property is transferred subject to a condition or limitation absolutely restraining the transferee or any person claiming under him from parting with or disposing of his interest in the property, the condition or limitation is void, except in the case of a lease where the condition is for the benefit of the lessor or those claiming under him: PROVIDED that property may be transferred to or for the benefit of a women (not being a Hindu, Muhammadan or Buddhist), so that she shall not have power during her marriage to transfer or charge the same for her beneficial interest therein. 11. Restriction repugnant to interest created - Where, on a transfer of property, an interest therein is created....

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....llottee in respect of the plot conveyed. For a transferee to deal with interest in the property transferred "as if there were no such direction" regarding the particular manner of enjoyment of the property, the instrument of transfer should evidence that an absolute interest in favour of the transferee has been created. This is clearly discernible from Section 11 of the TP Act. The section rests on a principle that any condition which is repugnant to the interest created is void and when property is transferred absolutely, it must be done with all its legal incidents. That apart, Section 31 of the TP Act is enough to meet the aforesaid contention. The section provides that "on a transfer of property an interest therein may be created with the condition super-added that it shall cease to exist in case a specified uncertain event shall happen, or in case a specified uncertain event shall not happen". Illustration (b) to the section makes the position clear, and it reads: "(b) A transfers a farm to B, provided that, if B shall not go to England within three years after the date of the transfer, his interest in the farm shall cease. B does not go to England within the term prescr....

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....ringement of rights or interests and a manifest imbalance of relevant considerations. 20. Insofar as the argument that the land is not used for putting a factory building but was used for some other purpose is concerned, no such case was pleaded by the appellant- Corporation in the High Court or even in these appeals. This was not the reason for initially cancelling the allotment or demanding payment of 50% of the prevailing market value. Therefore, this oral argument advanced at the time of hearing cannot be accepted without any material on record and when it was not the basis of cancellation/demand of payment. This Court in the case of Mohinder Singh Gill & Anr. v. The Chief Election Commissioner, New Delhi & Ors. (1978) 1 SCC 405 held as under: "8. The second equally relevant matter is that when a statutory functionary makes an order based on certain grounds, its validity must be judged by the reasons so mentioned and cannot be supplemented by fresh reasons in the shape of affidavit or otherwise. Otherwise, an order bad in the beginning may, by the time it comes to Court on account of a challenge, get validated by additional grounds later brought out. We may here draw attenti....