TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2015 (2) TMI 1395
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....ommon judgment and order dated 22.12.2006 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay in various Writ Petitions, the Appellants have filed these appeals by questioning the correctness of the same by raising certain questions of law and urging various grounds in support of the same and requested this Court for setting aside the same and issue writ of certiorari to quash the orders dated 21.10.1986, 23.06.1988, 7.8.1989 and 31.10.1989 passed by the State Government in exercise of its power Under Section 14(4) of the Maharashtra Agricultural Lands (Ceiling on Holdings) Act, 1961 (in short 'the Act') appointing the Sub Divisional Officer, Pandharpur as Enquiry Officer to hold enquiry in respect of the land holders whose names are mentioned against the land held by them in the said orders. As per the affidavit filed by Shri Shankar Narayan, the Assistant Collector, Pandharpur, by an order dated 27.9.1991, the Government had modified original orders dated 7.8.1989 and 31.10.1989 and in supersession of those orders, the Government has designated the Assistant Commissioner of Land Records, Pune as Enquiry Officer which was subsequently designated the Deputy Commissioner of Pun....
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....cers to investigate into the fabricated records. After the aforesaid Act came into force, the land ceiling proceedings of the land holdings of the share holders of the Company and the alleged sub-lessees took place and it was held by the Tahsildar under the Act, that everybody held the land within the ceiling limit and the said decision was appealed and attained finality in the year 1977, as the appeals filed against the orders passed in the land appeals were also dismissed. 5. In the year 1974, the ACB obtained permission from the Maharashtra State Government to investigate into the alleged offences punishable Under Sections 466, 468, 471, 477A, 120B and 109 of the Indian Penal Code, which were registered after investigation of the case by the said Bureau against the share holders of the Company and others. The said criminal cases were tried by the Special Judge, Solapur against the accused persons in special case Nos. 2, 5 to 7 of 1975. The accused persons, namely, the share holders were convicted for different offences and accordingly, sentenced them to undergo imprisonment for the period mentioned in the judgment and order of the Special Judge. Aggrieved by the aforesaid ....
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....have exercised its suo-motu power to call for the records pertaining to the land holdings of the Appellants as the period of three years limitation stipulated in the above provision was over from the date of the orders passed Under Section 21 by the Tehsildar who was the Revenue Officer in the land ceiling matters and those orders have attained finality. Therefore, it is urged that the exercise of power by the State Government Under Section 14(4) of the Act, appointing an Enquiry Officer to enquire into the land holdings of the Company share holders and sub-leases on the alleged ground that the share holders have created sub-leases in respect of their holdings of land by fabricating the revenue records against whom criminal cases were registered and were convicted and sentenced them for the charges by the Special Judge and in which proceedings, the Company and the share holders who are not the parties and other Appellants in respect of civil appeals, who were subsequent purchasers of the land from the share holders, and they have acquired constitutional right upon their land holdings Under Article 300A of the Constitution of India and therefore, it is totally impermissible in law f....
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....arned Division Bench of the High Court ought to have accepted the legal contentions urged before it in exercise of its extraordinary writ jurisdiction Under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and the impugned order should have been quashed as prayed by them but, on the other hand, it dismissed the writ petitions by passing the common judgment and order which is under challenge in these appeals, which are required to be interfered with by this Court in exercise of its appellate jurisdiction Under Article 136 of the Constitution of India as there will be miscarriage of justice, if the impugned common judgment and order is not set aside and quash the order passed by the State Government. Therefore, the learned senior Counsel on behalf of the Appellants requested this Court to allow the appeals and set aside the impugned judgment and order and quash the government order impugned in the writ petitions by allowing these appeals. 10. The learned senior Counsel Mr. Shekhar Naphade appearing on behalf of the private Respondents/land owners at whose instance the criminal cases were registered against the accused persons on their representation, the State Government has passed the im....
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....annot be allowed to sustain in law. It is further contended that the factual and legal pleas urged by the learned senior Counsel on behalf of the Appellants that suo motu exercise of power by the State Government Under Section 45(2) of the Act cannot be exercised at the belated stage after the land ceiling proceedings in respect of the land of the above villages have attained finality, are wholly untenable in law for the reason that the fraud unravels everything and therefore, there cannot be a bar for the State Government to exercise its power on the ground of limitation for initiating the proceedings in respect of the land involved in these cases in the public interest. It is further urged by him that the exercise of power by the State Government Under Section 14(4) of the Act cannot be termed as illegal having regard to the magnitude of the fraud played by the declarants in respect of huge extent of agricultural wet land to save themselves from the clutches of the Land Ceiling Act to an extent of 3000 and odd acres of land which amounts to deprivation of the land holdings of the land owners, who have leased their land in favour of the Company and they are entitled to get their l....
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....unsel Mr. Naphade submits that the above untenable contentions urged on behalf of the Appellants are liable to be rejected, particularly, having regard to the fact that huge extent of land acquired by the share holders and fictitious subleases by fabricating and creating the revenue records of the land in question to overcome the ceiling limits of holdings of land, which are criminal offences committed by the declarants under the Indian Penal Code for which some of the accused share holders of the Company and Ors. involved in the criminal cases were charged for the criminal offences committed by them and have been convicted and sentenced for the proved charges framed against them. Therefore, it is contended by him that the impugned judgment and order need not be interfered with by this Court in exercise of its appellate jurisdiction. 14. The purpose of the orders issued by the State Government is to conduct the administrative enquiry by the Enquiry Officer appointed by it in relation to the revenue records of the land in question, which are fabricated after destroying the original revenue records, with a view to make unlawful enrichment by the declarants and therefore the same h....
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....unsel on behalf of the owners Mr. Shekar Naphade who had leased their lands to the Company. 17. We have carefully examined the rival factual and legal contentions urged on behalf of the parties with a view to find out as to whether the common impugned judgment and order warrants interference in these appeals. After careful perusal of the judgment passed in the criminal appeals, we noticed that some of the Appellants were convicted and sentenced for the offences punishable Under Sections 466, 468, 471, 477A, 120B and 109 of the Indian Penal Code, in relation to the offences committed by them in respect of the land holdings. In the backdrop of the judgment passed in the criminal cases referred to supra which have attained finality before this Court, the State Government, after examining the representations given by the land owners in these cases with reference to the relevant land records of the land holders of the villages, has rightly exercised its statutory power by appointing the Sub-Divisional Officer as an Enquiry Officer at the first instance and later on Deputy Commissioner of Pune was appointed to enquire into the matter which is in the larger public interest. 18. The ....
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....eved parties to agitate their rights to get the orders which are obtained by the declarants as they are vitiated in law on account of nullity is the tenable submission and the same is well founded and therefore, we accept the submission to justify the impugned judgment and order of the Division Bench of the High Court. 19. The legal submissions made by the learned senior Counsel on behalf of the Appellants that the State Government has no power either Under Section 45(2) or Under Section 14(4) of the Act to appoint an Enquiry Officer to enquire into the land holdings of the villages referred to therein are untenable contentions of the Appellants which have been rightly rebutted by the learned senior Counsel Mr. Shekhar Naphade by urging an alternative legal plea that the power exercised by the State Government to pass the orders impugned in the writ petitions is traceable to its executive power Under Article 162 of the Constitution of India. Hence, the same shall be accepted by us and the said provision is extracted hereunder: 162. Extent of executive power of State Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the executive power of a State shall extend to the matter....
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....n in the mind of the Appellants that their statutory, fundamental and constitutional rights guaranteed under the provisions of the Act and Articles 14, 19 and 21 read with 300A of the Constitution of India are infringed at this stage is premature and misconceived. Therefore, the question of issuing notices to them by the State Government before passing the orders in appointing the Deputy Commissioner as an Enquiry Officer to conduct administrative enquiry in relation to the land holdings of the land of the Company, the share holders and the Appellants herein to find out whether the land revenue records of the land of the villages referred to supra are destroyed and fabricated on that basis the declarants have declared that they do not own surplus land, the State Government has not passed effective orders at this stage to take away the valuable rights of the Appellants as claimed by them and therefore, the question of giving opportunity to them at this stage and conducting enquiry before passing the orders is wholly untenable in law, as the orders are only administrative in nature by appointing an officer to enquire into the alleged fraud on the officers, who have decided the declar....