TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2001 (11) TMI 1056
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....rced, and not the plan prepared subsequently, that has to be taken into consideration to determine if land is vacant land held in excess of the ceiling limit fixed under the Act. 2. The High Court, by the impugned judgment and order, relying upon the decision of a Bench of two Judges in Atia Mohammadi Begum (Smt.) v. State of U.P. and Ors. , has held that when the land was not vacant land in the date of the commencement of the Act, the authorities cannot convert that land into vacant land by their unilateral act by including it in the master plan for a purpose other than agriculture. On this view, the proceedings taken under the Act have been declared null and void by the High Court. 3. Since reconsideration of the decision in Atia Begum's case was sought, it was directed by a Bench of Two Judges that these matters be placed before a three judges' Bench. Therefore, these appeals have been placed before us. 4. Atia Begums case also came to be considered in Her Highness Maharani Shantidevi P. Gaikwad v. Savjibhai Haribhai Patel and Ors. (2001) 3 SCC 101 before a three Judges Bench of which two of us (Bharucha, CJ and Sabharwal, J.) were members. Since, in the said ca....
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....tion to any 'State or Union territory specified in Co.(1) of Schedule I, means- (i) the urban agglomeration specified in the corresponding entry in Col.(2) thereof and includes the peripheral area specified in the corresponding entry in Col.(3) thereof, and (ii) any other area which the State Government may, with the previous approval of the Central Government, having regard to its location, population (population being more than one lakh and such other relevant factors as the circumstances of the case may require, by notification in the official Gazette declared to be an urban agglomeration and any agglomeration so declared shall be deemed to belong to category D in that Schedule and the peripheral area therefore shall be one kilometer; (B) in relation to any other State or Union territory, means, any area which the State Government may, with the previous approval of the Central Government having regard to its location, population (population being more than one lakh) and such other relevant factors as the circumstances of the case may require, by notification in the official Gazette, declare to be an urban aggl....
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....griculture if the land has been specified in the master plan for a purpose other than agriculture." Section 2(q) defines "vacant land" as under: "2(q) 'vacant land' means land, not being land mainly used for the purpose of agriculture, in an urban agglomeration, but does not include,- (i) land on which construction of a building is not permissible under the building regulations in force in the area in which such land is situated; (ii) in an area where are building regulations, the land occupied by any building which has been constructed before, or is being constructed on, the appointed day with the approval of the appropriate authority and the land appurtenant to such building; and (iii) in an area where there are no building regulation, the land occupied by any building which has been constructed before, or is being constructed on, the appointed day and the land appurtenant to such building: Provided that where any person ordinarily keeps his cattle, other than for the purpose of dairy farmi....
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....in which he was having vacant land. Sub-section (2) of Section 16 also applies Section 6 to 14 (both inclusive) to the statements filed under Section 16(1). 8. Now we will briefly notice the facts of Atia Begum's case and the question involved therein. In that case the question was regarding the quantification of vacant land. The competent authority had declared that the appellant had 19813.83 sq. mts. of vacant land in Aligarh in excess of the ceiling limit but the District Judge reduced the area of he excess land to 6738.23 sq. mts. The order of the District Judge was challenged by both, i.e., the owner and the State by filing writ petition in the High Court. The owner's writ petition was dismissed and that of the State was partly allowed. In appeal before this Court, the owner sought restoration of the order of the District Judge which had been set aside by the High Court on the interpretation of the provisions of the Act. The Act came into force in the State of Uttar Pradesh on 17th February, 1976. At that time, there was no master plan for the area of Aligarh. The master plan for Aligarh was made on 24th February, 1980. In that master plan, the land in dispute was s....
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....atsoever, the date on which such lad becomes vacant land; (iii) where any notification has been issued under Cl.(n) of Section 2 in respect of any area in a State in which this Act is in force, the date of publication of such notification." 9. If the expression "commencement of the Act" is read with reference to the aforesaid explanation, the area of doubt about the correctness of the decision of Atia Begum's case becomes very narrow, e.g., few observation therein which are these: "Just as the holder of the land cannot by his subsequent actions reduce the are of the vacant land in excess of the ceiling limit, the authorities too cannot by any subsequent action increase the are of the excess vacant land by a similar action." 10. The observations that the authorities by their subsequent action after 17th February, 1976 cannot alter or introduce the master plan which has the effect of increasing the area of excess vacant land do not represent the correct view of law. The aforesaid explanation to Section 6(1), inter alia, provides that where any land, not being vacant land, situated in a State in which this A....