Supreme Court of India
GHAZIABAD SHEROMANI SAHKARI AVAS SAMITI LIMITED & ANR. ETC.versusSTATE OF U.P. & ORS. ETC.
- Citation
- 1990 INSC 22
- Decided
- 31 January 1990
- Disposal
- Appeal(s) allowed
Holding
The acquisition must be partially released, allowing the societies to retain sufficient land (22 acres) to provide each member with an 80‑square‑yard plot and to construct double‑storey housing.
Summary
Five cooperative housing societies comprising low‑paid government servants had purchased land in Ghaziabad to build residential units for their members. The State later issued a notification under sections 4(1) and 17(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, to acquire the same land for the Ghaziabad Development Authority, and the societies' representations under section 5A were rejected. The societies filed writ petitions under Article 226 challenging the acquisition and the denial of representation; the Allahabad High Court dismissed the petitions. On appeal, the Supreme Court held that the members should not be deprived of the housing they had already arranged for and ordered that 22 acres of land be released from acquisition, providing each member with an 80‑square‑yard plot and permitting double‑storey construction. The Court also directed that development charges be paid at Rs 100 per square yard and that internal development be undertaken by the societies, while the Development Authority would cooperate in the scheme.
Issues considered
- Whether land already acquired by cooperative societies for housing can be acquired by the State under sections 4(1) and 17(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
- Whether the denial of the societies' right to representation under section 5A of the Act is justified.
- What appropriate relief, if any, should be granted to the societies and their members.
Legislation cited
- Land Acquisition Act, 1894s. 17(1), s. 4(1), s. 5A
Subjects
land acquisitioncooperative housing societiessection 5A representationdevelopment authorityresidential accommodationdouble‑storey constructiondevelopment charges
Judgment
•
GHAZIABAD SHEROMANI SAHKARI AVAS SAMlTl
A
LIMITED & ANR. ETC.
v.
StATE OF U.P. & ORS. ETC.
JANUARY 3i, 1990
. "
[RANGANAtH MISRA; P.B. SAWANT AND
K. RAMASWAMY, JJ.I
Land Acquisition Act, 1894: ss.4( 1) & 17( l)~Land acquired by
cooperative housing societies prior to notificarion ill favour of
Ghaziabad Development Authority-Validity of.
c
The appellant cooperative societies consisting of 1739 low paid
Government servants had acquired certain land in Ghaziabad for the
purpose of providill!l residential nccommodatlon to their members.
Subsequently, the said land was notified for acquisition under ss. 4(1)
and l 7(1) of the Land Acquisition Act for the Ghaziabad Development b
Authority. Representations made by the appellants under s. SA of the
Act were rejected.
l In the writ petitions, filed under Article 226 of the Constitution, it
was contended for the appellant societies that the Development Autho•
rity constituted by the State for the same purpose should not have been E
permitted to acquire the said land to their prejudice, and that there was
no justification for depriving them of their right to representation
under s. 5A of the Act. The High Court dismissed the writ petitions.
Allowing the appeals by special leave, the Court,
F
HELD: I. The members of the appellant societies should not be
denied residential accommodation for which they had taken effective
steps before the acquisition for the Ghaziabad Development Authority
was notified. [20SG I
2. l Keeping in \>lew the number of eligible members, the total G
area which they had acquired aud entrusted to the socleiles for ron·
( struction, the capacity of the members to pay for the ronstructlon npw
charged by the Development Authority, the n~d for planned de\>elop•
ment of the Hrea and alt other relevant facts, It would be sufficient If
each one of them was provided withanareaof80sq. yards. [20SG·H; 206A]
203
•
204 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1990] 1 S.C.R.
A l..l. High rise construction for the poor sections of the society
would not be convenient. If the double storey construction with an area
of 80 sq: yards is adopted about 20 acres of land, inclusive of land for
laying of the roads and other requirements contemplated under the
development scheme, would be necessary. For convenience and adjust-
B ment two more acres of land shall be made available to the societies to
be shared by amicable adjustment by them. Thus, from the acquisition
notification 22 acres of land shall stand deleted and shall be released
inaccordance with the extent indicated for each of the societies. The
identification of the land to be so released shall be made within four
weeks from the date of pronouncement of the order by mutual arrange-
ments. The order of release bearing appropriate description to follow
C and sketch maps to be signed by the parties. [206D; 207C-EJ
3. The development charges for sewerage, electricity, road con-
nections and the like shall be provided to the Development Authority at
the rate of Rs.100 per sq. yard and internal development shall be
done by the societies themselves. In raising the construction, the
D
bye-laws .an!l regulations of the Development Authority shall be stric-
tly followed. I207G I ·
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos. 992-
m ~~. r~
I
E
From the Judgment and Order dated 30.8.1988 of the Allahabad
High Court m W.P. Nos. 12572 of 1984, 65J2/85, U574/84, 17966/So.
12152:'84 and 12159 of 1984.
K.K. Venugopal, S.N. Misra, Rajinder Sachhar, Soli J. Sorab-
jee, V.M. Tarkunde, S.S. Ray, O.P.. Rana, Govind Mukhoti, P.C.
F
Kapur, B.P. Sahu; P.N. Misra, Krishna Pd., B.P. Sin!ih, A.K. Goel,.
J.M. Khanna, Ms. Shafali Khanna, S. Markandeya, Ashok Sharma,
G.S. Giri Rao, Mrs. C. Markandeya, W:A. Nomani, G. Seshagiri,
S.K. Mehta, Aman Vachher, Atul Nanda, N.D. Tyagi, Raju Rama-
charidran, D. Pillai, Raja Ram Agarwal, Sanjay Parekh, S.N. Mira
and A.K. Goel for the appearing parties.
0
The Judgment of the Court. was delivered.by
RANGANATH MISRA, J. We have heard counsel for the
parties at considerable length but piece meal spread over a number of
"'l
'I-I days. Special Leave grahted
SAHKARI AVAS SAMIT! v. STATE OF U.P. (MISRA, J.] 205
Five cooperative societies with membe;ship of Government
servants mostly of· the lower strata filed six separate writ petitions
A
before the Allahabad High Court_ challenging the Notification under
section 4(1) and section 17(1) of the Land Acquisition Act (1of1894)
on several grounds. The principal contentions before the High Court
were two-fold: ( 1) the cooperative societies consisting 'qf the low paid
Government servants having acquired the land for the purpose of pro- B
viding residential accommodation to their members, the Ghaziabad
Develqpment Authority constituted by the State of Uttar -Pradesh for
the same purpose should not have been permitted to acquire the said
land to their prejudice; and (2) there was no justification for depriving
the petitioners of their right to representation under section 5A of the
Acquisition Act in the facts and circumstances of the case.
c
The High Court by a common judgment dated 30th August,
1988, dismissed the writ petitions by negativing the several contentions
raised on behalf of the petitioners. It may be pointed ciut that on
behalf of the Neelam Sahakari Awas Samiti Ltd. two writ petitions
were filed while each of the other four societies had filed one writ D
petition. That is how six SpeclaJ. Leave Petitions were filed before this
Court and have now been converted into'appeals on grant of leave.
l Ghaziabad, within the State of Uttar Pradesh, virtually border-
ing Delhi is located at a distance of 28 kilometeres from the New Delhi
Railway Station in the trans Jamuna area. It has of late become, apart E
from being a Railway junction, an industrial area as also an agglo-
meration sufficiently developed to call it a township. A Master Plan
has been drawn up for the area and some portions have been develo-
ped while the lands of the five cooperative societies have not yet been
improved on account of the pendency of this group of cases.
F
In course of the hearing of these appeals we were satisfied about
the genuineness of the grievance advanced on behalf of the members
through their respective cooperative societies and took the view that
the members of the cooperative societies should not be denied residen-
tial accommodation for which they had taken effective steps before the
acquisition for the Development authority was notified. We took into G
consideration the total number of members as also the number of
eligible menibers; the total area which the members had acquired and
entrusted to the cooperative societies for construction; the capacity of
the members to pay for the construction.now charged by the Develop-
ment authority; the need.of planned development of the area; and all
other relevant facts and circumstances placed by all the parties before H
206 SUPREME COURT REPORTS 11990) 1 S.C.R.
us and formed the opinion that it would be sufficient to meet the
A
requirement of the members of these societies if each one of them was
provided with a plot limited to an area of 80 square yards.
Total memhets entitled to allotment a1·e 1739. Whether it should
be individual plots or double storeyed construction should be permitted
B was seriously debated before us but we have come to the ultimate
conclusion that instead of single storey construction double storey con-
structions would be convetlient and economical. The interest of the
members represented by their respective cooperative societies altd the
nature of the housing complex contemplated by the DeVelopment
authority have to be kept in view and the ultimate decision, keeping
the interest of both, has to be taken. Counsel for the Oevekipment
C authority had canvassed before us that instead of confining construc-
tion of flats to two storeys, the normal pattern of five or six storeys
could be adopted. High·rise construction for the poor section of the
society w<'luld not be convenient-in old age many would have move-
ment problem; many of the necessities for living would be difficult to
D secure. We have, therefore, decided that the construction must be
confined to two storeys only and the members of their respective
societies shall make their own adjustment of the ground floor and Ist
floor allotments. About 20 acres of land would be necessary if the
double storey construction with an area of 80 square yards is adopted.
Society·wise particulars are provided below:
E
S. No. Name of cooperative Total members Area
society entitled to in acres
allotment
F 1. Sarkari Karamchari Evam 230 2.54
Mitregan Sahakari Awas
Samiti Ltd.
2. Kendriya Karamchari Evam 523 5.77
Mitregan Sahakari Awas
G Samiti Ltd·.
'
-'· Ghaziabad Shiromani 298 3.29
Sahakari Awas Samiti Ltd.
4. Neelam Sahakari Awas 245 2.70
H Samiti Ltd.
SAHKARI AVAS SAMIT! v. STATE Or U.P. [MISRA, J.] 207
5. Asha Pushpa Vihar Sahakari 443 4.87 A
Awas ~amiti Ltd.
1739 19.17
B
Members entitled 1739
Total area 19.17 acres (rounaed to 20
acres)
This area of 20 acres is inclusive of land for laying of the roads
and other requirements contemplated under the development scheme. C
For convenience and adjustment we are of the view that two more
acres of land be made available to the five cooperative societies to be
shared by amicable adjustment by them. Thus from the acquisition
Notification 22 acres of land shall stand deleted and shall be released
in accordance with the extent indicated for each of the five cooperative D
societies. The identification of the land to be so released shall be made
within four weeks from the date of pronouncement of the order by
mutual arrangement. We direct that when the land shall be so
identified, the order of release from acquisition by appropriate
description of the land shall be made; sketch maps showing the
identified land shall also be signed by parties to avoid future litigation E
and made over to each of the societies.
We commend that all the five cooperative so.cieties may form
themselves into a federation for the purpose of ensuring appropriate
development of the area and sharing either in common or by division
the 2.83 acres of extra land which is directed to be released from F
acquisition.
It has been agreed that development charges for sewerage,
electricity, road connections and the like shall be provided by the
Development authority @ Rs.100 per square yards and internal de-
velopment shall be done by the societies themselves. In raising the G
construction, the bye-laws and regulations of the Development
authority shall be strictly followed. We hope and trust that the
,
../
Development authority shall extend its cooperation in every manner
to the societies to effectuate the directions made by us. We look for-
ward to the fulfilment of the dreams of each of the members of the
society in the matter of having a residential accommodation. H
I
208 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1990) 1 S.C.R.
\
As soon as the lands are identified and sketch maps are delivered
A
as directed abo~e the interim orders made by this Court shall stand.
dissolved. ·
The appeals are disposed of without any order for costs.
B P.S.S. Appeals allowed.
(
\
+
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