AIRCRAFT EMPLOYEES' HOUSING CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETYversusTHE SECRETARY, RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND PANCHAYAT RAJ, GOVT. OF KARNATAKA, BANGALORE AND ORS.

A     AIRCRAFr EMPLOYEES' HOUSING CO-OPERATIVE SOC!ET):'.·
                                           v.
     THE SECRETARY, RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND PANCHAYAT
        RAJ, GOVT. OF KARNATAKA, BANGALORE AND ORS.

                                   AUGUST 8, 1996
B
                (K. RAMASWAMY AND G.B. PATTANAIK, JJ.]

           Land Acquisition Act, 1894:

C         Ss.4(1), 5-A, 6(1), Explanation (1)-Stay of land acquisition Proceed-
  ings by High Cowt after publication of notification u/s.4( 1) and declaration
  u/s. 6( 1)-Effect of-lnqui1y u/s.5-A-Objections tO-Oppoinmity of hea1ing
  to land owneri--Notification u/s. 4( 1) published acquiiing ce1tain lands of
  responde11ts 3 to 7-0bjections u/s. 5-A filed by respondents---Neither re.1pon-
D dents nor their cou11sel. appeared even on t/ie adjoumed date of hearing-()b-
  jections disposed of-Declaration u/s.6(1) made-Respondellts filed writ
  petitio11-By an inte1im order of High Court further proceedi11gs in the matter
  remai11ed stayed for a peiiod of more than four years-Thereafter the High
   Court allowed the writ petition-Held, High Court en-ed in holding that si11ce
  the proceedings were stayed after declaratio11 u/s.6(1) was published, Explmia-
E tio11 1 to s. 6 was not applicable and the declaration u/s.6 and Notificatio11
  u/s.4 elapsed-Notification u/s.4(1) was published on 24.11.1981-Declara-
  tion u/s.6(1) was published on 28.10.1982--Wiit petition was filed thereafter
  and stay was granted-Jn the inten-egnum Govemment was disabled to take
  further proceedings-Therefore it cannot be said that though the stay was
F gra11ted, the notification u/s.4( 1) and the declaratio11 u/s.6 elapsed for failure
   of Govemment to take further action i11 pursuance of s.4( 1) of the Act, within
   three years penod-T71e words 'in pursuance of occuning in s.4(1), would be
   read widely to give effect to the steps to be taken i11cluding the inquiry u/s.5-A
     and declaration u/s.6 and ftuther action tltereafter--The restricted interpreta-
     tion given by tlte High Cowt is illegal-Respondents were given oppo1tunity
G thrice to file objections u/s.5-A-On the adjo11111ed date of hearing neither the
     respondents nor their counsel appeared-Respondents denied themselves the
     opporttmity of hearing-Neither inqui1y u/s.5-A nor declaration u/s.6 is
     vitiated by any ennr of law.

H          Words and Phrases : Expression 'in pursuance of occuning in s.4(1)
                                       424
     AIRCRAFTEMPLOYEFS'HSG. CO.OP. SOCY LTD.v. SECY. RURAL DEV.AND PANCHA YATRAJ   425

of Land Acquisition Act, 1894-Meaning of                                                 A
        CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 3961 of
1988.

     From the Judgment and Order dated 7.10.87 of the Karnataka High
Court in W.A. No. 1762 of 1987.                                                          B

        K.R. Nagaraja, for the Appellant.

        Prem Parsad Juneja and M. Veerappa for the Respondents.

        The following Order of the Court was delivered :                                 c
        An interesting question of law has been raised in this case. Notifica-
  tion under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition, 1894 (1of1894) (for short,
  the 'Act') was published in the State Gazette on September 24, 1981
  acquiring an extent of 137 acres of land for housing scheme of the appel- D
 !ant. We are concerned with 2 acres 28 gunthas of land belonging to the
  respondent Nos. 3 to 7 in this appeal. The objections under Section 5-A of
  the Act were filed by the respondents on November 12, 1981. He appeared
  through counsel on November 21, 1981 and sought further time to file
  further objections. The matter was posted for November 25, 1981. He filed
  a memo stating that the additional objections already filed on November E
  12, 1981 would be treated as on record and sought time for hearing and
  accordingly the matter was posted for November 30, 1981 on which date
 the respondent appeared neither in person nor through counsel. The Land
 Acquisition Officer, therefore, considered the objections and submitted his
·report to the Government for consideration by his proceedings dated f
 January 12, 1982. The Government after considering the objections and the
 report and on rejection thereof published the declaration under Section
 6(1) in the Gazette on o'ctober 28, 1982. Thereafter, the respondent filed
 Writ Petition No. 43227/82 sometime in October 1982. The High Court
 directed stay of further proceedings. The High Court in the impugned G
 judgment dated May 27, 1987 held that the enquiry under Section 5-A was
 vitiated on account of failure to give opportunity of hearing to the respon-
 dents on the objections. Since the writ petition came to be filed after the
 declaration under Section 6 was published, Explanation 1 to 6 is not
 attracted; the Explanation postulates exclusion of the time taken in pur-
 suance of the notification under Section 4(1). Since stay of further proceed- H
    426                   SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996] SUPP. 4 S.C.R.

A   ings of the declaration under Section 6 was granted, the Explanation 1 to
    6 is inapplicable. Therefore, the time taken during the pendency of the
    proceedings cannot be excluded in computing the period of three years as
    envisaged in the first proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 6. Therefore, the
    declaration under Section 6 and the notification under Section 4 have
    elapsed. Thus, this appeal by special leave. Though the respondents have
B
    been served, none is appearing either in person or through counsel. We
    requested Sri Juneja, who is well experienced in this branch of law, to assist
    as amicus.

           Shri Nagaraja, learned counsel for the appellant, contended that the
C   view taken by the High Court is not valid in law. The language of the
    Explanation that period during which any action or proceedings taken in
    pursuance of the notification under Section 4(1) is stayed by an order of
    the Court requires to be construed to mean that all steps taken from the
    stage of issuance of the notification under Section 4(1) should be under-
D   stood meaningfully. If the Explanation would be construed strictly to mean
    that after the no~ification was published but before the declaration under
    Section 6 was published, the steps taken in pursuance of sub-section (1) of
    Section 6 only were stayed and were to be excluded, the operational
    efficiency would be in jeopardy. The stay of the further proceedings,
    therefore, should include all steps to be taken after the notification under
E   Section 4(1) is published including the declaration under Section 6 which
    are necessarily to be excluded. Otherwise, an interested person would wait
    for publication of declaration under Section 6 and then only would impugn
    the validity of declaration without challenging Section 4(1) and get further
    proceedings stayed and on expiry of three years even if the writ petition is
    dismissed or withdrawn, no fu.rther steps could be taken since three years
F    from that date stood expired and resultantly notification under Section 4
    and declaration under Section 6(1) would stand lapsed. Such an interpreta-
     tion would not be in the public interest to sustain the acquisition by the
     Government for public purpose. Shri Juneja, the learned counsel con-
     tended that Section 7 of the Act provides clue to the interpretation. Section
G    7 envisages that whenever any land has been declared under Section 6, as
     needed for a public purpose, the appropriate Government may authorise
     some officer on its behalf to take order for the acquisition of the land which
     show that the steps are required for issuance of the notice under Section
     9 read with Section 10; award enquiry under Section 11 to pass an award
     thereunder and to take possession of the land under Section 16 only would
H    be stayed. Therefore, the interpretation of Explanation 1 should be under-
     AIRCRAFT EMPLOYEES'HSG. CO.OP. SOCYL'ID. ~~SECY. RURAL DEV. AND PAN CHAYAT RAJ   427

stood to mean that during the period of stay taking further steps pursuant A
to sub-section (1) of Section 6 alone be excluded. If so excluded, only the
declaration could be made within three years after the compliance of the
mandatory requirement of Section 5-A in this case. Since three years have
already elapsed on 24th September, 1994 the notification under Section
4(1) shall stand elapsed by operation of the first proviso to Section 6(1).
Even otherwise, he contends that the declaration under Section 6 was to B
be published 'vithin three years. The notification under Section 4(1) was
admittedly published on September 24, 1981. On September 23, 1984, three
years' period had expired. Therefore, the notification under Section 4(1)
and declaration under Section 6 shall automatically stand elapsed.

       Therefore, t\~ questions that arise in this case for decision are : (1)              c
whether the interpretation given to the Explanation 1 to Section 6(1) by
the High Court correct in Jaw; and (2) whether the failure to give oppor-
tunity of hearing to the counsel for the respondent triggers off Section 5-A
enquiry? With a view to appreciate the contention it is necessary to look
into the relevant provisions. Section 4(1) envisages the publication of the D
notification in the Gazette and also in the locality etc., as required there-
under. An enquiry under Section 5-A shall be conducted un.less the power
under Section 17(1) is exercised dispensing with the same and possession
under Section 17(4) is taken by the Government. In this case, these steps
were not taken. Necessarily, therefore, enquiry under Section 5-A had to
be conducted. In fact, the notice was served on the owners/interested E
persons including the father of the respondents who had filed the objec·
tions and the case was adjourned on four occasions. On the last occasion,
it was adjourned to November 30, 1981 on which date neither respondent
nor the counsel was present. Consequently, the enquiry was closed, objec-
tions were considered and recommendations were made to the Govern·
ment to take appropriate action. The declaration under Section 6 came to                    F
be published on October 6, 1982 after overruling the objections. There·
after, the writ petition was filed and stay of further proceedings was
obtained. Explanation 1 to Section 6 reads as under ;

        "In computing any of the periods referred to in the first proviso,                  G
        the period during which any action or proceeding to be taken in
        pursuance of the notification issued under Section 4, sub-section
        (1), is stayed by an order of a Court shall be excluded."

     If it is read in isolation, as was done by the High Court, it would be
obvious that the period during which action or proceedings to be taken in H
     428                  SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1996) SUPP. 4S.C.R.

A pursuance of the notification issued under Section 4 sub-section (1) is
  stayed by an order of the Court, alone is required to be excluded. Since
  that stage had passed by at the time of publication of declaration under
  Section 6(1), the question arises : as to what is the meaning of the words
  'in pursuance or under Section 4(1) of the notification? 'In pursuance or
  would mean under the authority of or by virtue of or in the course of
B carrying out in accordance with the scheme or plan or direction or order
  or anything in consequence or conformable to or according to; act of
  pursuing, carrying out and performance, prosecution; the scheme of the
  Act envisages that after the notification under Section 4(1) was published,
  the owner/interested person is entitled to a notice, after compliance of the
c requirements under sub-section (1) of Section 4. Thereafter owner/person
  interested is entitled to file his objections. In this ca~, admittedly, objec-
   tions were filed on November 30, 1981 when neither the counsel nor the
   respondent was present at the time of hearing. After the objections were
   consideration and obviously rejected, declaration under Section 6(1) came
   to be made an published. The writ petition was filed and further steps were
D stayed. Consequently, the notice under Section 9 and 10 and award and
   further steps were stayed. The question is : what is the meaning to be given
     to the words 'in pursuance of? In our considered view, these \Vords would
     be read widely to give effect to the steps to be taken including the enquiry
     under Section 5-A and declaration under Section 6 and further action
E    thereafter. Otherwise, when a person challenges the notification under
     Section 4(1) but pending challenge if the proceedings ar-e stayed, that
     period alone shall be excluded by operation of Explanation 1 to Section 6.
     If a person challenges the declaration, he may file objections to the
     publication of the declaration in the Gazette under Section 6 and then
     challenge the declaration for the non-compliance of the requirement under
F    Section 5-A without going into the validity; he could contend that three
     years from the date of the publication of the notification under Section
     4(1) had elapsed and Explanation 1 is not attracted; it would be unneces-
     sary to go into the question and the writ petition may be got dismis,;ed as
     his object gets achieved. If the High Court disposes of the matter within
G    two years from the date of publication of the notification under Section
     4(1) before the expiry of three years' period, certainly the Government
      could reconsider the objections filed under Section 5-A and declaration
      under Section 6 could be published. But when there is a stay of the further
      proceedings, then necessarily the Government cannot make the declara-
      tion. In this case, three years' period was to expire on September 23, 1984
 H    by which date the High Court had already stayed further proceedings and
       AIRCRAFfEMPWYEES'HSG. CO.OP.SOCYLID. v. SECY. RURAL DEV.AND PANCHA YATRAJ   429

writ came to be disposed of in 1987 by which date three year's period                    A
already stood expired. If the period of stay was not to be excluded, the
Government has no power even to hear the objections and if the objections
are untenable and overruled and public purpose was found to be subsisting,
the Government could gel the declaration under Section 6(1) published.
Considered from this perspective, we are. of the view that the words 'in
pursuance of would be widely understood and all steps required as to be                  B
taken including the declaration under Section 6 are to be considered as
part of the scheme. Accordingly, we hold that there is no impediment in
such an interpretation and the restricted interpretation given by the High
Court is clearly illegal.

       The next question is : whether the view taken by the High Court that
                                                                                         c
the enquiry under Section 5-A is vitiated in law, is correct? In our view,
the High Court has not correctly interpreted the legal position. It is seen
that respondent was given opportunity thrice to file his objections. At his
instance the case was posted for hearing on November 30, 1981 on which
date neither the respondent nor his counsel was present. Under these D
circumstances, the respondent having failed to present himself either in
person or through counsel on November 30, 1981, the omission to give a
right of hearing to him does not vitiate enquiry under Section 5-A. On the
other hand, the respondent denied himself of the opportunity of being
heard. Therefore, enquiry under Section 5-A is not vitiated by the error of
law. Consequently, the declaration under Section 6 is not vitiated by any E
error of law. Shri juneja equally is not correct in contending that even
under the unamended Act by operation of the first proviso to section 6(1),
the three years' period had expired by November 19, 1994 and therefore,
the notification under Section 4(1) stood elapsed. Admittedly, the notifica-
tion under Section 4(1) was published on November 24, 1981. The writ
petition was filed in 1982 sometime after October, 1982. Therefore, the stay F
was granted. In the interregnum, the Government disabled to take further
steps and, therefore, it cannot be said that though the stay was granted the
notification under Section 4(1) stood elapsed for non-publication of the
declaration under Section 6 within three years upto September 23, 1994.
We place on record our deep appreciation for the valuable assistance G
rendered by Shri Juneja.

         The appeal is accordingly allowed, but, in the circumstances without
costs.

R.P.                                                               Appeal allowed.