TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (10) TMI 1647
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....ction was granted by the tribunal on 09.01.1996. During the interregnum, the Academy made representations to the State Government requesting for allotment of a piece of land at any place mentioned in the representations for shifting and running the school. The concerned minister in the meeting dated 14.1.1998 considered the question of allotment of land in favour of the Academy. Subsequently, a note was prepared by the Managing Director of the J & K Housing Board on 25.1.1999, proposing that the Board had 4 kanals of land in Sector 2 of Channi Himmat, Jammu earmarked for schools which could be considered for allotment to the Appellant at Rs. 8,00,000/- per kanal. In a subsequent meeting on 29.4.1999 after completion of formalities, four kanals in Sector 2 of Channi Himmat were allotted to the Academy at Rs. 8,00,000/- per kanal on lease for 40 years and the Academy was directed to deposit 50% of the said amount, the remaining amount to be deposited subsequently. In a meeting dated 28.6.2000, a decision was taken by the J & K Housing Board in pursuance of the orders of the Chief Minister, that two kanals of land would be allotted to the Academy at the rate of Rs. 8,00,000/- per kana....
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.... ascertained in the manner as above. In the event the bid to be had at the public auction does not exceed the minimum reserved bid price, the Board shall execute a fresh lease in favour of the private Respondent upon obtaining payment of Rs. 16.00 lacs from him. In the event the bid price to be had at the auction exceeds the minimum reserved bid price and the same is not given by the private Respondent, the Board shall give an opportunity to the private Respondent to meet the same and, if he meets the same, to execute the lease in favour of the private Respondent upon accepting the amount of such bid, less the cost of construction ascertained in the manner as above, as premium. In the event the private Respondent fails to match the bid price, the Board shall grant the lease in favour of the highest bidder and from the amount so to be received, first pay the cost of construction ascertained in the manner as above to the private Respondent. 4. The contesting Respondents herein, i.e., the original writ Petitioners who were before the learned Single Judge and the Division Bench, have chosen to remain absent before this Court despite service of notice on them. Heard the learned Counsel....
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.... was found not to have adhered to the applicable policy, i.e. the allotment of land to Educational Institutions (Schools), etc. on lease hold basis in Chandigarh Scheme, 1996 for allotment of land. b) At Para 17 of the judgment it is recorded that the audit department of the UT Chandigarh Administration found that the allotment caused a loss of Rs. 139 crores to the public exchequer. Lastly, he submitted that the allotted land was earmarked for schools and playfields in the Master Plan and hence, there was no violation of the Master Plan in allotment of land to the Appellant. 6. This Court in a series of cases including Centre for Public Interest Litigation v. Union of India, 2012 3 SCC 1 (popularly known as the "2G case"), in Natural Resources Allocation, In Re. Special Reference No. of 1/2012, (2012) 10 SCC 1, Manohar Lal Sharma v. Principal Secy., (2014) 9 SCC 516, Bharti Airtel Limited v. Union Of India, (2015) 12 SCC 1, and Goa Foundation v. Sesa Sterlite Ltd., (2018) 4 SCC 218 has formulated the guidelines for allocation of natural resources by the State. In Bharti Airtel Ltd. v. Union of India, (2015) 12 SCC 1, this Court summed up the principles governing the allocatio....
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....ing observations: 120. ...There is no constitutional imperative in the matter of economic policies--Article 14 does not predefine any economic policy as a constitutional mandate. Even the mandate of Article 39(b) imposes no restrictions on the means adopted to subserve the public good and uses the broad term "distribution", suggesting that the methodology of distribution is not fixed. Economic logic establishes that alienation/allocation of natural resources to the highest bidder may not necessarily be the only way to subserve the common good, and at times, may run counter to public good. Hence, it needs little emphasis that disposal of all natural resources through auctions is clearly not a constitutional mandate. It would be useful to note at this juncture that in this decision, the Court assessed the position of law developed through a catena of decisions, including Netai Bag and Ors. v. State of W.B. and Ors., (2000) 8 SCC 262, 5 M&T Consultants v. S.Y. Nawab, (2003) 8 SCC 100, and Villianur Iyarkkai Padukappu Maiyam v. Union of India, (2009) 7 SCC 561, wherein it has been held that non-floating of tenders or holding of auction by itself is not sufficient to hold that the e....
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....would achieve public good. Where a public authority implements a policy, which is backed by a constitutionally recognised social purpose intended to achieve the welfare of the community, the considerations which would govern would be different from those when it alienates natural resources for commercial exploitation. When a public body is actuated by a constitutional purpose embodied in the Directive Principles, the considerations which weigh with it in determining the mode of alienation should be such as would achieve the underlying object. The position of law developed through these decisions was summed up in the following manner by this Court in Goa Foundation v. Sesa Sterlite Ltd., (2018) 4 SCC 218, after adverting to the various decisions referred to above: 80.1. It is not obligatory, constitutionally or otherwise, that a natural resource (other than spectrum) must be disposed of or alienated or allocated only through an auction or through competitive bidding; 80.2. Where the distribution, allocation, alienation or disposal of a natural resource is to a private party for a commercial pursuit of maximising profits, then an auction is a more preferable method of such allo....
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....here was any social or welfare purpose underlying the allocation, i.e., if the furtherance of the public good was the ultimate goal of the allocation so as to justify the non-auctioning of the land, and second, if the allocation is bad for lack of adequate compensation. 7. As far as the underlying objective of the allocation is concerned, in our considered opinion, the Division Bench of the High Court was not justified in rejecting the submission of the Academy that the allocation of land was done keeping in mind the plight of the students of the school. One of the reasons assigned by the Division Bench in rejecting this contention was that there was no discussion about the plight of the students in the correspondence between the Appellant-Academy and the Government. However, a mere lack of explicit statements to that effect does not imply that the action was not motivated by welfare considerations, inasmuch as the displacement and uprooting of several hundreds of students from their school was the obvious underlying concern in the representation made by the Appellant and the order passed by the State Government. It would be appropriate at this stage to quote the following observa....
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....also preferred to peacefully settle the issue of getting the school vacated from the wakf property, at an early date, without disturbing the education of the students and peace in the locality. 8. Articles 38 and 39 of the Constitution of India provide that the State must strive to promote the welfare of the people of the State by protecting all their economic, social and political rights. These rights may cover means of livelihood, health and the general well-being of all Sections of the people in the society, of which education is an important aspect. 9. Imparting basic education is a constitutional obligation on the State as well as societies running educational institutions. Children are the future of our nation. Education is a basic tool for individuals to lead an economically productive life and is one of the most vital elements for the preservation of the democratic system of government. The Constitution of India bestows considerable attention to the field of education. It recognizes the need for regulating the various facets of activity of education and also the need for not only establishing and administering educational institutions but also providing financial support ....
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....y be in the nature of earning revenue or may be to "best subserve the common good". It may well be the amalgam of the two. There cannot be a dissipation of material resources free of cost or at a consideration lower than their actual worth. One set of citizens cannot prosper at the cost of another set of citizens, for that would not be fair or reasonable. Thus, the impugned transaction must be probed to determine whether it leads to an adequate consideration being received by the State. 12. In our view, the action of the authorities can be assailed to the extent that the allotment of two kanals free of cost was bad in law. It is evident that the consideration paid by the Appellant was only with respect to two kanals and the remaining two kanals of land were allotted for free to the Appellant. It is not in dispute that Rs. 8,00,000/- per kanal was the average auction sale price which was fetched around the time of allotment. Keeping this figure in mind, the State Government fixed the allotment price at Rs. 8,00,000/- per kanal. It is clear that there was no arbitrariness in fixing the price at Rs. 8,00,000/- per kanal. However, we are unable to accept the contention that the allo....
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....o the public exchequer to the extent of Rs. 16,00,000/- for two kanals as on the date of allotment. However, having regard to the fact that the Appellant-Academy has been running on the allotted site since many years, after constructing a new building, the transfer may be saved by giving the transferee an opportunity to make good the shortfall in the consideration. In this context, it is relevant to note certain observations made by this Court in the case of ITC Limited v. State of U.P., (2011) 7 SCC 493: 107.1 If the transferee had acted bona fide and was blameless, it may be possible to save the transfer but that again would depend upon the answer to the further question as to whether public interest has suffered or will suffer as a consequence of the violation of the Regulations: (i) If public interest has neither suffered, nor is likely to suffer, on account of the violation, then the transfer may be allowed to stand as then the violation will be a mere technical procedural irregularity without adverse effects. (ii) On the other hand, if the violation of the Regulations leaves or is likely to leave an everlasting adverse effect or impact on public interest (as for example....