HAR KIRAN COMMARversusDELHI ADMN. AND ORS.

A                             HAR KIRAN COMMAR
                                      v.
                             DELHI ADMN. AND ORS.

                                NOVEMBER 21, 2000

B                 [M. JAGANNADHA RAO AND M.B. SHAH, JJ]


            land Acquisition Act, 1894:

            S.48-C/aim for deacquisition-Brother of land owner granted
C permission to file application u/s. 48 on the basis of letter indicating that
    acquisition·proceedings had been quashed by High Court and land owner
    permit(ed to make further construction with prior approval of Municipal
    Corporation of Delhi-Held, in instant case, there was no letter similar to
    that issued to applicant's brother-Besides, the land acquisition in respec1
D   of the applicant and others did not stand quashed but remained valid~
    Applicant cannot contend that her case is similar to that of her brother.

          Delhi Admn. v. Gurdip Singh Uban and Ors. , JT (2000) 9 SC 245,
    distinguished.

E           Abhey Ram v. Union of India, 11997] 5 SCC 421, relied on.

            CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Review Petition (C) No. 21 of
    2000.

                                              IN
F           CIVIL APPEAL NO. 4656 OF 1999.

          From the Judgment and Order dated 17.12.96 of the Delhi High Court
    in C.W.P. No. 920of1986.
            Dr. A.M. Singhvi, Sanjay Sarin, Ms. Anuradha Dutt and Ms. B.
G Vijayalakshmi Menon for the Petitioner/Appellant.
         Harish N. Salve, Solicitor General, D.N. Goburdhan, Ms. Pinky Anand,
    Ms. Geeta Luthra, Manoj Swarup and Hiren Dasan for the. Respondents.

            The following Order of the Court was delivered :
H                                         6
                     H.K. COMMAR v. DELHI ADMIN.                              7
       This is a review application by the petitioner Mrs. Har Kiran Commar.       A
She is the sister of Gurdip Singh Uban who had also filed a review application
earlier and whose review application was dismissed and who had thereafter
filed other I.As. The I.As filed by Gurdip Singh Uban were disposed of by
an elaborate judgment of this Court on 18th August 2000 Delhi Admn. v.
Gurdip Singh Uban & Ors. reported in JT (2000) 9 SC 245. Gurdip Singh Uban         B
was given some limited relief only on the concession of the respondents. ln
the present application filed by the petitioner it is contended by learned
senior counsel, Dr. Abhishek Singhvi, that this case is no different from that
of petitioner's brother and, therefore, a similar relief is to be given.

      We have heard learned Solicitor General of India in reply. While disposing   C
of the case of the petitioner's brother on 18th August 2000 this Court made
reference to a letter of the Joint Director dated 6.2.96 (F 9 (2) 90/CRC/South/
S-71 which read as follows :

          "Acquisition proceedings/Notification has been quashed by the
        Hon'ble High Court in case of Shri B.R. Gupta and Ors.                     D
           You are, therefore, requested to kindly approach the MCD for
        approval of the building plans and ADM(R) for getting N.O.C. for
        construction on the said land."

That would mean that apart from stating that the land acquisition proceedings      E
stood quashed, there was a further statement that Mr. Gurdip Singh Uban
could go in for further construction.

      On the basis of the said letter of the Joint Director it was contended
by Shri Gurdip Singh Uban in his I.As that inasmuch as he has made further         F
construction pursuant to the permission granted by the Joint Director allowing
him to approach the M.C.D. with his plans, he had made further construction
and, therefore, it would not be equitable to allow the land acquisition to go
on in respect of this property. He, therefore, sought permission to file an
application under Section 48 of the Land Acquisition Act. In response to this
submission learned Solicitor General of India filed written submission as          G
follows (as recorded in the judgment dated 18th August 2000):

        "In a case where the Joint Director (New Lease) of the Delhi
        Development Authority (DOA) has expressly represented that the
        proceedings stand quashed, then the government would consider the
        question of de-notification under section 48 provided.                     H
      8                        SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

 A           (a) The applicant who has constructed upon the land is the original
             owner and was the owner prior to the issuance of the notification ·
             under section 4. It is made expressly clear that even those transferees
             who have acquired the land with permissions/NOCs under the Delhi
             Land (Restrictions on Transfer) Act, 1972 are not covered by this.

 B           (b) The construction has been made after obtaining the approval of
             the MCD for the building plans.

             (c) the constructions as exists is in strict compliance with the sanctioned
             plans and does not exceed the maximum built up area permissible in
             respect of farm houses - which is the applicable norm under the
C            Building by-laws.

             (d) The extent of deacquisition would be in the discretion of the Govt

             ( e) If compensation has not been paid."

D           It will be noticed that the above said concession was made by the
     learned Solicitor General of India in the context of the order dated 6.2.96 by
     the Joint Director in favour of Shri Gurdip Singh Uban permitting him to make
     additional construction. It is true that the opening paragraph of the concession,
     which we have extracted, merely refers to a representation that the proceedings
     stood quashed, but the said sentence has to be read along with the letter
E    dated 6.2.96 of the Joint Director which contains a further permission to the
     petitioner's brother to approach the M.C.D. and submit his plans for additional
     construction. In order words, the first paragraph of the concession has to be
     read as follows :

                "In a case where the Joint Director (New Lease) of the Delhi
F           Development Authority (DOA) has expressly represented that the
            proceedings stand quashed and has made further representation
            permitting further construction enabling the person to submit plans
            for approval and obtain N.O.C. for construction on the land."

          So far as the petitioner before us is concerned there is no letter similar
G to the one dated 6.2. 96, which was there in favour of her brother, by the Joint
     Director, permitting her to make any additional construction. On the other
     hand, the only letter which she can reply upon is the one of March 1989
     written by Mr. MRs. Gita Sagar, Joint Secretary (LSG) to the Deputy
     Commissioner Mr. D.S. Negi. The said letter reads as follows :

H               "I draw your kind attention to the judgment of the Delhi High
                     ILK. COMMAR v. DLLlll i\DMIN.                              9

        Court dated 18.11.88 in the case of Sh. B.R. Gupta v. Union of India,        A
        CWP No. 1639/85 quashing the land acquisition proceedings que
        section 4 notification dated November, 1980 pertaining to 11 South
        Delhi villages.

            In this connection, I a111 to infor111 you that the Administration has
        not preferred any appeal against the aforesaid judgment of the High          B
        Court dated 18.11.88 and therefore, you 111ay kindly take necessary
        action to release the lands.

            The legal advice has been that the judg111ent covers only those
        lands which have still not been taken over by the Government and,
        therefore, the lands which have been taken over by the Govt. are not         C
        to be released. You may kindly issue necessary instructions
        accordingly."

      This letter has now been held by us to be inoperative. Our decision
dated 18th August 2000 is that all other land acquisition proceedings in cases
not dealt with by the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court originally              D
remained in force and that was the view of the three-Judge Bench of this
Court in the case ofAbhey Ram v. Union oflndia, [1997] 5 SCC 421. Hence
the land acquisition in respect of all other cases including MRs. Har K1ran
Commar did not stand quashed but remained valid. In the light of the said
judgments, the letter of March 1989 cannot be relied upon by the petitioner          E
before us. It cannot be contended that her case is similar to the case of her
brother Shri Gurdip Singh Uban. Therefore the petitioner cannot seek a direction
similar to the one granted by us in the case of Shri Gurdip Singh Uban. This
application is, therefore, dismissed.

R.P.                                                          Petition dismissed.    F