TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (5) TMI 2041
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....was acquired and conveyed to the Respondent between the years 1912-1929 under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for setting up an industry. The Respondent established an integrated steel plant, allied manufacturing units, township, civic amenities for its staff, hospitals, schools, parks, etc. The entire township came up gradually which was renamed as Jamshedpur. 3. The Bihar Land Reforms Act was enacted in the year 1950 (for short "the BLR Act") and by a Notification dated 01.01.1956 all lands of the Respondent Company stood vested in the State Government. Section 2B was inserted in the BLR Act in the year 1961 [Vide Bihar Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1960, Act 02 of 1961] exempting the lands which were acquired for an industrial undertaking from the application of the BLR Act. By virtue of the said amendment, the Respondent's lands were exempted from vesting under the BLR Act. Thereafter, Section 2B of the BLR Act was deleted in the year 1972 vide the Bihar Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1972 [Act No. 5 of 1972] (for short "Amendment Act, 1972"). Consequently, the lands of the Respondent again stood vested in the State. Amendment Act, 1972 was assailed by the Respondent by w....
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....d 31.03.1984. 5. A formal lease deed was executed on 01.08.1985 incorporating the terms of the Agreement for Lease dated 01.08.1984 (for short "Lease Deed"). A demand was raised by the State Government for payment of Rs. 1.95 Crores as rent along with interest as per Clause (xii) of the Lease Deed on 11.09.1985. A further demand of Rs. 2.19 Crores was made on 18.10.1985 towards rent coupled with interest in terms of Clause (xv) of the Lease Deed. The Respondent complied with the demand and made the payments. 6. On 29.10.1993, a letter was written by the Secretary, Department of Revenue and Land Reform, Bihar (for short "the Secretary") to the Deputy Commissioner, Jamshedpur in which it was stated that the Government was suffering heavy losses due to the absence of the words "per annum" for calculation of interest in Clause (xii) of the Lease Deed. After obtaining legal opinion, the Secretary directed the Deputy Commissioner, Jamshedpur to re-calculate the interest on the arrears of rent payable under Clause (xii) of the Lease Deed on a yearly basis in the same manner as done for the rent on the lands under Clause (xv) and realize the same from the Respondent. A cert....
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.... convey the meaning that clauses (xii) would indicate that interest in respect of the said clause can be calculated only on "lump sum" basis and not "per annum" basis as there is no use of words "per annum" in clause (xii) like that of clause (xv) and therefore, the impugned demand for interest "per annum" in respect of clause (xii) is illegal. (ii) The impugned demand is not a "public demand" within the meaning of section 3(6) of the Bihar and Orissa Public Demands Recovery Act, 1914 as the demand in question is concerned with the interpretation of clause (xii) and hence the demand is not realizable in certificate proceedings." 8. Guided by the decisions of this Court on the interpretation of contracts in Delhi Development Authority v. Durga Chand, [(1973) 2 SCC 815 : AIR 1973 SC 2609 ¶19 and 21] Provash Chandra Dalui v. Biswanath Banerjee, [(1989) 1 SCC Suppl. 487: AIR 1989 SC 1834] 20th Century Finance Corporation Ltd. v. State of Maharashtra, [(2000) 6 SCC 12] and Union of India v. Shiv Dayal Soin & Sons (P) Ltd., [(2003) 4 SCC 695] the High Court was of the opinion that the contract must be construed as a whole and that the meaning of the words contained in th....
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....ivision Bench the only course open to it was to refer the matter to a larger Bench. The learned Senior Counsel for the State further submitted that the word "rent" has not been defined in the BLR Act. He submitted that the words and expressions used in the BLR Act but not defined thereunder would have the same meaning as per the definitions in the Bihar Tenancy Act, 1885 or the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 [Section 2(t), BLR Act] . As the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 was applicable to the lands in question, the word "rent" as defined in Section 3(xxviii) of the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 would apply to the facts of the case. "Rent" as defined in the said Act includes any rent lawfully payable by a tenant to his landlord on account of the use or occupation of the land held by the tenant and includes all dues (other than personal services) which were recoverable under any enactment for the time being in force as if they were rent. The learned Senior Counsel contended that in view of the definition of "rent" in the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 which includes all dues recoverable under any enactment, it cannot be said that the demand made by the State of Bihar was not a publi....
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....ctly appreciated by the High Court. The question that falls for our consideration in this case is whether the demand of interest made by the Certificate Officer for the arrears of rent payable under Clause (xii) of the Lease Deed was valid or not. 15. It is relevant to refer to Section 7D and Section 7E of the BLR Act.^[1] The Agreement dated 01.08.1984 and the Lease Deed dated 01.8.1985 was entered into pursuant to the abovementioned provisions of the BLR Act. Clause (xii) of the Lease Deed pertains to lands which have been developed by the Respondent by establishing industries and other civic amenities whereas Clause (xv) relates to lands which were being used for commercial purposes. The Respondent was making money from the use of lands that were covered under Clause (xv) for which reason the "jama" was also fixed for the lands falling under Clause (xv) for five years at a time. Interest being calculated on a yearly basis as per Clause (xv) is clearly due to the lands being used for commercial purposes wherefrom the Respondent was getting returns. The exclusion of the words "per annum" in Clause (xii) was intentional and the Appellant cannot be permitted to read those words i....
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.... Section 3(6) of the Public Demands Act. 18. The judgment of the High Court is upheld though we are not approving the conclusion of the High Court that the demand is not a public demand under the Public Demands Act. The amount of Rupees One Crore deposited by the respondent in the High Court on 28.03.1996 pursuant to the interim order shall be returned to the respondent. 19. For the aforementioned reasons, the Appeal is dismissed. [1] 10 7D. Land and buildings etc. acquired for an industrial undertaking and utilized for providing civic amenities, namely, health, housing, welfare, power house and educational facilities to be deemed settled with it by the State -(1) If any land has been acquired for an industrial undertaking under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (Act 1 of 1894) so much of such land and buildings and structures thereon in possession of the industrial undertaking as are being utilized for providing civil amenities, namely, health, housing, welfare, power house and education facilities to its employees and so much of the remaining portion of such land and building and structures thereon as are found essential on enquiry by the State Government for production pro....