TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (8) TMI 1937
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....roperties to the petitioners in the year 1955. Since then, they are in continuous possession and enjoyment of the said land. 3. According to the petitioners, the lands were originally formed Zamin, Alandur Village, which was taken by the Government on 03.01.1951 under the Tamil Nadu Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act 1948 [in short "the Act"] as per the G.O.Ms.No.3157 [Revenue], dated 09.12.1950 and a settlement was introduced. The petitioners applied before the Assistant Settlement Officer, Thiruvannamalai for issuance of ryotwari patta under Section 11 of the Act. The Assistant Settlement Officer, issued patta in favour of the petitioners, vide his orders dated 19.07.2000. Aggrieved over the same, the third respondent-Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation Limited [SIDCO] preferred an appeal. 4. It is a case of the third respondent that the land in dispute was owned by Shri Parthasarathy and others and the Competent Authority acquired the land and Award No.1 of 1962, dated 09.07.1962 was passed and the compensation was deposited in the civil Court. Thereafter, the land was classified as "Industrial Estate" in the revenue records. Hence, the As....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....nding Counsel for the third respondent, reiterated the averments made in the counter and further submitted that the Estate Officer, initiated proceedings treating the petitioners as unauthorized occupants under the Tamil Nadu Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, and directed the petitioners to surrender possession, and the order of the Estate Officer was confirmed by the District Court in C.M.A.No.181 of 1999, and by this Court in C.R.P.(NPD)No.1355 of 2007 on 22.06.2018. 10. Heard the learned counsels on either side and perused the materials available on record. 11. The issues arise for consideration in this Writ Petition is whether the ryotwari patta issued by the Assistant Settlement Officer, Thiruvannamalai in favour of the petitioners is valid and whether the revision preferred by the third respondent is barred by limitation. 12. In the instant case, it is not disputed that the lands were originally formed Zamin, Alandur Village, which was taken over on 03.01.1951 under the provisions of the Act, by the Government, vide G.O.Ms.No.3157, Revenue Department, dated 09.12.1950 and a settlement was introduced. It is equally not disputed that the subject....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... Court has to be treated as nullity by every Court, superior or inferior. It can be challenged in any Court, at any time, in appeal, revision, writ or even in collateral proceedings. 39. The above principle, however, is subject to exception of fraud. Once it is established that the order was obtained by a successful party by practising or playing fraud it is vitiated. Such order cannot be held legal, valid or in consonance with law. It is non existent and nonest and cannot be allowed to stand. This is the fundamental principle of law and needs no further elaboration. Therefore, it has been said that a judgment, decree or order obtained by fraud has to be treated as nullity, whether by the court of first instance or by the final court. And it has to be treated as nonest by every Court, superior or inferior." (ii) In (1994) 1 SCC 1 (S.P. Chengalvaraya Naidu (dead) by LRS. v. Jagannath (dead) by LRS and others), the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held as follows:- "6. The facts of the present case leave no manner of doubt that Jagannath obtained the preliminary decree by playing fraud on the court. A fraud is an act of deliberate deception with the design of securi....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... falsehood. It is a fraud in law if a party makes representations, which he knows to be false, and injury enures therefrom although the motive from which the representations proceeded may not have been bad. An act of fraud on court is always viewed seriously. A collusion or conspiracy with a view to deprive the rights of the others in relation to a property would render the trans action void ab initio. Fraud and deception are synonymous. Although in a given case a deception may not amount to fraud, fraud is anathema to all equitable principles and any affair tainted with fraud cannot be perpetuated or saved by the application of any equitable doctrine including res judicata. (See Ram Chandra Singh v. Savitri Devi and Ors. (MANU/SC/0802/2003 : 2003 (8) SCC 319). 11. "Fraud" and collusion vitiate even the most solemn proceedings in any civilized system of jurisprudence. It is a concept descriptive of human conduct. Michael Levi likens a fraudster to Milton's sorcerer, Comus, who exulted in his ability to, 'wing me into the easy hearted man and trap him into snares'. It has been defined as an act of trickery or deceit. In Webster's Third New International Dict....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....rovisions of a statute. "If a statute has been passed for some one particular purpose, a court of law will not countenance any attempt which may be made to extend the operation of the Act to something else which is quite foreign to its object and beyond its scope. Present day concept of fraud on statute has veered round abuse of power or mala fide exercise of power. It may arise due to overstepping the limits of power or defeating the provision of statute by ad opting subterfuge or the power may be exercised for extraneous or irrelevant considerations. The colour of fraud in public law or administration law, as it is developing, is assuming different shades. It arises from a deception committed by disclosure of incorrect facts knowingly and deliberately to invoke exercise of power and procure an order from an authority or tribunal. It must result in exercise of jurisdiction which otherwise would not have been exercised. The misrepresentation must be in relation to the conditions provided in a section on existence or nonexistence of which the power can be exercised. But nondisclosure of a fact not required by a statute to be disclosed may not amount to fraud. Even in commercial tran....