Holding

The State cannot evict tenants by force; the landlord‑tenant relationship continues after acquisition, and Section 4(8) of the 1980 Act does not empower the use of force.

Summary

The State of West Bengal, having taken over the management and later the undertaking of the Great Eastern Hotel under the 1975 and 1980 Acts, transferred the undertaking (except lands and buildings) to the Great Eastern Hotel Authority. The Authority issued a circular to occupants of shop, office and godown premises within the hotel to establish any right to remain, but the occupants, who were tenants under the former company, failed to respond. The State then gave an oral notice and, with police assistance, evicted the occupants by force. The occupants challenged the eviction before the High Court, which held that the eviction was not justified, there was no public purpose, and the 1980 Act does not permit forceful removal. On appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed that the landlord‑tenant relationship continued after the acquisition, the State stepped into the shoes of the landlord, and Section 4(8) of the 1980 Act does not authorize use of force; eviction must follow law and Section 6A of the 1976 Act is inapplicable. Consequently, the State’s appeal was dismissed and the High Court’s order restored.

Issues considered

The State Government’s authority to evict tenants by force after acquisition of the hotel undertaking under the Great Eastern Hotel (Acquisition of Undertaking) Act, 1980.
Whether the landlord‑tenant relationship persists after the undertaking is vested in the State, making the State the landlord.
Whether Section 4(8) of the 1980 Act authorises the use of force for possession.
Applicability of Section 6A of the West Bengal Government Premises (Tenancy Regulation) Act, 1976 to the occupants.
Whether a public purpose justifies forcible eviction.

Legislation cited

Great Eastern Hotel (Acquisition of Undertaking) Act, 1980s. 3(1), s. 3(2), s. 4(1), s. 4(2), s. 4(7), s. 4(8)
Great Eastern Hotel (Taking Over of Management) Act, 1975
Land Acquisition Act, 1894s. 47
Transfer of Property Act
West Bengal Government Premises (Tenancy Regulation) Act, 1976s. 6A

Subjects

rent controlevictionlandlord-tenant relationshipacquisition of undertakinguse of forcepublic purposerule of lawGreat Eastern HotelSection 4(8)Section 6A

Judgment

STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ORS. A
v.
VISHNUNARA YAN AND ASSOCIATES (P) LTD. AND ANR.

MARCH 19, 2002

[SYED SHAH MOHAMMED QUADRI AND S.N. PHUKAN, JJ.] B

Rent Control and Eviction:

Great Eastern Hotel (Acquisition of Undertaking) Act, 1980-Section
3(1), 3(2), 4(1), 4(2), 4(7), and 4(8), c
Acquisition of Hotel Premises by the State Government-Effect of-
. Relationship of Landlords and Tenants-Held, relationship of landlords and
tenants between State Government and occupants/tenants of the premises
continues.
D
Eviction of occupants/tenants-Use offorce-Whether permissible-Held,
State Government cannot use force to remove occupants/tenants from the
premises-Such action is destructive of the basic principle of rule of law--
Great Eastern Hotel Taking over of Management Act, 1975.

West Bengal Government Premises (Tenancy Regulation) Act, 1976.
E

Section 6-A-Eviction of unauthorised tenants-Invoking of-Cannot be
invoked by the Authority as the relationship of Tenants-Landlords continues
even after the bcquisition of premises by the State Government.

Appellant-State had taken over the management of the Undertaking of
F
Great Eastern Hotel Ltd., a Company, under the provisions of the Great
Eastern. Hotel (Taking over of Management) Act, 1975. Subsequently, as per
provisions of the Great Eastern Hotei (Acquisition of Undertaking) Act, 1980
the Undertaking of the said Hotel was taken over by the Appellant-State and
transferred to Great Eastern Authority set up under the Act. The Authority G
as per direction of the State issued a Circular to occupants of the premises of
the Hotel to provide them opportunity to establish their rights, if any, to
remain in possession/occupation of the premises but Respondents-occupants·
neither responded nor delivered the possession. The State, after oral warning,
removed the occupants by force.
557 H
558 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002) 2 S.C.R.

A Respondent-occupants tnoved the High Court by filing Writ Petitions
challenging the action of the Government in dispossessing them by force and
prayed for restoratiorr-of ppssession as they were tenants even after the Act
of 1980 came into force. While disposing of the Writ Petition, High Court
held that there was no element of public interest involved which would justify
B forcible dispossession of the respondents occupants from the Hotel premises,
which was a commercial venture and the Act of 1980 does not provide for
use of force eviction of tenants. Aggrieved, State preferred appeals before this •
Court.

It was contended for the appellant-State that there was no transfer of
C the lands and buildings to the Hotel Authority. Hence any action by the
Authority against the respondents would not be binding on the Government,
and that as per provisions contained in Section 3(1) of the Act of 1980, on the
appointed day the vesting of Undertaking was absolute and complete; thus
the tenancy between the respondents and the erstwhile Company came to an
end; and that respondents were in default of their legal liability to hand over
D the possession of the premises; and· that State Government, under the
circumstances, could take necessary steps which include eviction by force to
secure possession; and that the respondents were trespassers, therefore, the
Government could evict them as per provisions of the West Bengal
Government Premises (Tenancy Regulation) Act of 1976.

E Dismissing the appeals, the Court

HELD: 1.1. It is the settled position of law that the State or its executive
officers cannot interfere with the rights of others unless they can point to some
specific provision of law, which authorises their acts. The ~overnment can
p resume possession only in a manner known to or recognised by law.
(564-H; 565-A)

Bishan Das and Ors. v. The State of Punjab and Ors., (1962) 2 SCR 69,
followed.

G State of UP. and Ors. v. Maharaja Dharamander Prasad Singh and Ors ...
(1989) 2 sec 505, relied on.

2.1. The State Government may, for the reasons stated in sub-section 2
of Section 3, transfer the undertaking of the Company to the Hotel Authority
except the lands and buildings vested in the State Government absolutely with
H effect from the date of the notification issued un<Jer Section 3(1) of the Great
ST ATE v. VISHUNARA YAN AND ASSOC. (P) LTD. 559

Eastern Hotel (Acquisition of Undertaking) Act (565-F] A
2.2. It is not disputed that there was a relationship of landlord and
tenants between the erstwhile company and the respondents. The rights and
obligation of the landlord and tenant would be governed either by the Transfer
of Property Act or by rent law in force and the tenancy of the demised
premises could be terminated by taking action under the provisions of either B
of these two Acts and possession thereof could be recovered in accordance
with law. Under sub-section (I) of Section 4 of the Act of 1980, the undertaking
vested in the State Government free from any trust, obligation, mortgage,
change, lien and all other encumbrances. Therefore, the relationship of
landlord and tenant in the case in hand was not put to an end inasmuch as C
the tenancy would not be treated as trust, obligation, mortgage and change,
etc. as stated in the said sub-section. In regard to sub-section (2) which
provides that any 'contract' in relation to the undertaking shall be deemed
to have terminated on the appointed day, this deeming provision does not
relate to the relationship of landlord and tenant which could not be said to
have come to an end. Consequently, even after taking over the undertaking D
by virtue of the Act of 1980, the relationship of the landlord and the tenant
continued and in place of erstwhile company, the State Government stepped
into the shoes of landlord. (566-H; 567-A-B-C-D]

2.3. By the long title of the Act of 1980, the legislature made it clear E
that the Great Eastern Hotel was acquired under the Act of 1980 for purpose
of ensuring better facilities for boarding and lodging to the members of the
public and for matters connected therewith. As held by the High Court, the
hotel which is a star hotel, is meant for use by the affiuent section of the society
and not for general public. The term 'members of the public' would mean
occupants of the hotel, who can use the hotel on payment and not general F
public. Therefore, this is purely commercial venture and there was no element
of public purpose or public interest. [568-F-G(

3. Management of the hotel was handed over to the Hotel Authority.
The said Authority also accepted rents from the respondents and on a G
direction by the State Government, the said Authority issued a Circular to
' the respondents asking them to establish their rights, if any. The Authority
acted on be!talf of the Government both, while accepting rent and also issuing
notices to the respondents. The premises in question are located within the
, hotel premises and on handing over the Management to the Authority, it acted
on behalf of the Government Steps for securing possession, as contained in H
560 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002] 2 S.C.R.

A Section 4(8) of the Act of 1980, cannot and would not include use of force.
[567-E-F] ......--

4. Section 6A of the West Bengal Government Premises (Tenancy
Regulation) Act, 1976 can be invoked against any person, who is not a tenant

B
or who remains in occupation of any Government premises without written
order of the prescribed authority. The respondents were tenants under the
erstwhile company and continued to do so. Therefore, they cannot be evicted
-
by invoking powers conferred on the Authority under Section 6A of the Act
of 1976. (569-G-H]

c 1999. CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil.Appeal No. 6899 of
From the Judgment and Order dated 14.10.99 of the Kolkata High
Court in W.P. No. 1466 of 1997.

WITH
D
C.A. Nos. 6900, 6902, 6903, 6904, 6901, 6905, 6906, 6907, 6908,
6909, 6910, 6911 and 6912 of 1999.

Mukul Rohatagi, Additional Solicitor General, V.R. Reddy, Tapas Ray,
Ms. Neelam Sharma, Ajay Sharma, T.C. Sharma, K.V. Vishwanathan, Ms.
E Shruti Chaudhuri, Suman J. Khaitan, Gaurav Jain, Ms. Abha Jain, P. Agarwal,
L.C. Agrawala, C. Mukund, Ashok K. Jain, B.K. Jain, R.K. Jain, Vibhu
Bhakaru and P.N. Puri for the appearing parties.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

F PHUKAN, J. These appeals by special leave arise from the judgment
of the Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court by which a batch of Writ
petitions filed under Article.226 of the Constitution was disposed of. By this
judgment we dispose of all these appeals.

The undisputed facts are as follows :
G
The management of the Undertaking of the Company namely the Great
)
Eastern Hotel Ltd. was taken over by the State Government by invoking the
provisions of the Great Eastern Hotel (Taking over of Management) Act,
1975. Subsequently, by the Great Eastern Hotel (Acquisition of Undertaking)
Act, 1980 (for short the 'Act of 1980'), the Undertaking of the Company i.e.
""
H the Great Eastern Hotel was taken over by the Government. The Government
STATE v. VISHUNARAYAN ANDASSOC.(P)LTD. [PHUKAN,J.] 561

transferred the undertaking ,of the Company to the Great Eastern Hotel A
Authority (for snort Hotel Authority), which was set up under Section 5 of
the Act of 1980 except the lands and the building. On December 12, 1994,
according to the direction ·of the State Government, the Great Eastern Hotel
Authority issued a circular to various occupants of the premises of the hotel
giving them an opportunity to establish if they had any right to remain in B
occupation but there was no response. On June 28, 1997, as the occupants
failed to deliver procession, the representative of the Government went to the
hotel premises and gave oral notice to the occwpants to deliver possession
They were also ipforrned that possession if not delivered, would be taken
over·by force. On June 29, 1997 the State Government removed the occupants
from the hotel premises and took possession with the help of police. C
Some of the occupants of the hotel who were evicted by use of force
are respondents in all these appeals. It is the undisputed case of the parties
that the respondents were tenants of shops, offices and go-downs in the hotel
under the erstwhile company and were in occupation of their respective
portions. The respondents filed Writ Petitions before the High Court D
challenging the action of the Government in dispossessing them by force and
prayed for restoration of possession claiming that they were lawful tenants
having been inducted by the previous owners and even after coming into
force of the Act of 1980, the Hotel Authority had dealt with them as tenants
by accepting rent and that there was no lawful termination of their tenancy. E
It was also pleaded that such action of eviction by force with the help of
police restored to by the appellants lacked legal authority and was illegal,
further it was also in violation of the principle of natural justice as the
respondents were not given an opportunity of showing cause against their
-... eviction.
- F
On behalf of the appellant-State, writ petitions were resisted before the
High Court, inter alia, on the following grounds :

I. that the tenancy of the respondents stood automatically terminated
under the Act of 1980 and
G
2. that under the provisions of the said Act they were legally bound
to deliver possession of the suit premises to the State Government
and on their failure to do so, they could be evicted by force by
invoking the provisions of West Bengal Government Premises
(Tenancy Regulation) Act, 1976 (hereinafter referred to as the H
562 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002] 2 S.C.R.

A 'Act of 1976').

It was also pleaded that as the suit premises were required for public
purpose, so the government could resort to use of force of evicting the
respondents.

B To appreciate the contention raised before us, it would be necessary to
extract the definition of the expression 'undertaking' in clause (t) of Section
2, Section 3 and 4 of the Act of 1980 :

"Section 2 : Definitions. In this Act, unless the context otherwise
requires,-
c
(a) to (e) ................ ..

(t) "undertaking of the company" means the properties, both movable
and immovable, cash balances, reserve funds and other assets of
the company including lands, buildings, machineries, plants,
D furniture, equipments, stores and any other property which may
be in the ownership, possession, custody of control of the company
in relation to its undertaking immediately before the appointed
day and all books of accounts, registers and other documents of
whatever nature relating thereto.

E Section 3 : Acquisition of the undertaking of the company

(I) On and from the appointed day, the undertaking of the company
shall, by virtue of this Act, stand transferred to, and vest absolutely
in the State Government.

(2) Upon the ve.sting of the undertaking of the company in the State
F Government under sub-section (l), the State Government may, for
efficient management and administration thereof, provide by
notification for the transfer of the undertaking of the company (save
the lands and buildings forming part thereof) to, and vesting thereof
in, the Hotel Authority with effect from such date as may be specified
G in the notification.
)

(3) The State Government may allow the lands and buildings
mentioned in sub-section (2) to be used by the Hotel authority for the
purpose of giving effect to this Act on such terms and conditions as
may be provided by notification with effect from the date of issue of .
H the notification under sub-section (2).
STATE v. VJSHUNARA YAN AND ASSOC. (P) LTD. [PHUKAN, J.] 563

Section 4 : General effect of vesting : A
(I) The undertaking of the company which has vested in the State
Government under sub-section (!) of Section 3, shall, by force of
such vesting, be freed and discharged from any trust, obligation,
mortgage, change, lien and all other encumbrances affecting it, and
any attachment, injunction or decree or order of any court or tribunal B
restricting the use of the whole or any part of the undertaking of the
company in any manner shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.
.... (2) Any contract, whether express or implied, or other arrangement,
• whether under any statute or other wise, in so far as it relates to the
affairs of the company in relation to its undertaking and in force c
immediately before the appointed day shall be deemed to have
terminated on the appointed day.

(3) Where any license or other instrument in relation to the undertaking
of the company had been granted at any time before the appointed
day to the company by the Central Government or the State D
Government or any other authority, the State Government shall, on
and from the appointed day, be deemed to be substituted in such
license or other instrument in place of the company referred to therein
as if such license or other instrument had been granted to it.

(4) On and from the date of transfer of the unde11aking of the company E
to, and vesting thereof in, the Hotel Authority, that Authority shall be
deemed to be substituted in the license or other instrument referred
to in sub-section (3) in place of the State Government as if such
--....._ license on other instrument had been granted to the Hotel Authority.

(5) Any liability incurred by the company (including the liability, if
F
any, arising in respect of any loans or amounts advanced by the State
Government to the company together with interest thereon) after the
management of the undertaking of the company had been taken over
by the State Government shall, on and form the appointed day, be the
liability of the State Government and shall, on and from the date G
' specified in the notification under sub-section (2) of section (3), stand
transferred to, and shall vest in, the Hotel Authority.

(6) If, on the appointed day, any suit, appeal or other proceeding or
whatever nature in relation to any matter or business in respect of the
undertaking of the company, instituted or preferred by or against the H
564 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002) 2 S.C.R.

A company, is pending, the same shall not abate~ be discontinued or be,
in any way, prejudicfally affected by reason of the transfer of the
undertaking of the company or of anything contained in this Act and
the suit, appeal or other proceeding may be continued, proceeded .
with and enforced by or against the Sta~e Government and on and
from the date specified in the notification under sub-section (2) of
...
B Section 3, the Hotel Authority.

(7) Any person in possession or custody or control of the whole or
any part of the undertaking of the company on the date immediately
before the appointed day shall, on the appointed day, deliver the
possession of such undertaking of the company or part thereof to the
c State Government or to such person as may be specified by the State
Government in this behalf.

(8) The State Government may take, or cause to be taken, such steps
as it considers necessary for securing the possession of the undertaking
of the company which has vested in the State Government under sub-
D
section (1) of Section 3."

The High Court rejected the contention that the eviction of the ~
respondents· was carried out for a public purpose as the respondents were
dispossessed for improvement of the hotel, which was purely a commercial
E venture and, therefore, there was no element of public interest. The High
Court also held that the Act of 1980 does not provide for use of force for
eviction of tenants in the hotel premises and this Act is a self. contained one.
According to _the High Court the Act of 1976 applies in respect of only
residential properties of the government and cannot be used for eviction of
respondents by force· as the premises were used for nonresidential purpose.
F
We have heard Mr. Mukul Rohtagi, learned Additional Solicitor General
appearing for the State of West Bengal, Mr. Vishwanathan, learned counsel
for. the respondents in all the appeals except Civil Appeal No. 6910 of 1999
and for this appeal learned counsel Mr. Mukund made his submission.
G
The question," whi~h ne~ds our consideration is whether the action of
the State Government in taking possession of the suit premises by using force
was lawful.

It is the settled position of law that the State of its executive officers
H cannot interfere with the rights of others unless they can point to some
STATE v. VISHUNARA YAN AND ASSOC. (P) LTD. [PHUKAN, J.] 565

• specific provision of law, which authorises their acts. A Constitution Bench A
of this Court in Bishan Das and Ors. v. The State of Punjab and Ors., [1962]
2 SCR 69 held that State or its executive officers did not have any right to
take law into their own hands and remove a person by an executive order.
The Court further observed, 'before we part with this case, we feel it our duty
to say that executive action taken in this case by the State and its officers is B
destructive of the basic principles of the rule of law'.

In State o/U.P. and Ors. v. Maharaja Dharamander Prasad Singh and
-..: Ors., [1989] 2 SCC 505 an apprehension was raised by the learned counsel
that if the State Government, on the self assumed and self assessed validity
of its own action of cancellation of the lease, attempts at and succeeds in, a C
resumption of possession extra judicially by force, it would cause great
hardship and injustice. The court held that possession can be resumed by the
government only in a manner known to or recognised by law and it cannot
resume possession otherwise than in due course of law and, therefore,
prohibited the government from taking possession otherwise than in due
course of law. D

Now let us consider whether the Act of 1980 authorises the State
Government to use police power for eviction of the respondents. Sub-section>
(1) and (2) of Section (3) and sub-sections (I), (2), (7) and (8) of Section 4
of the Act of 1980 are relevant for the present purpose. Sub-section (I) of E
Section 3 of the Act of 1980 provides that the undertaking of the company
shall stand transferred to and vested absolutely in the State Government on
the appointed day. From the definition of the underta)<ing as contained in
clause (f) of Section 2 of the Act of 1980, the undertaking of the company
also includes lands, buildings, etc. By sub-section (2) of Section 3, the State
Government may for reasons stated in the said sub-section transfer the F
undertaking of the company to the Hotel Authority except the lands and
buildings forming part thereof. Clause (a) of sub-section (2) defines 'appointed
day' to mean the date on which the Act came into force. Therefore, on the
date the notification under sub-section (I) of Section 3 of the Act of 1980
was issued, the undertaking land and buildings vested in the State Government G
' absolutely. Sub-section (I) of Section 4 provides that the undertaking which
vested in the State Government shall be freed and discharged from any trust,
obligation, mortgage, changes, lien and all other encumbrances affecting it.
We are not concerned with the second part of the said sub-section which
relates to any attachment, injunction or decree or order passed by any court
or tribunal. According to sub-section (2) of Section 4 any contract, whether H
566 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002) 2 S.C.R.

A express or implied, or other arrangement, whether under any statute or
otherwise, in so far as it relates to the affairs of the erstwhile company in
relation to the undertaking and in force immediately before the appointed day
shall be deemed to have terminated on the date of vesting. Under sub-section
(7) of Section 4 any person in possession or custody or control of the whole
B or any part of the undertakings on the date immediately before the appointed
day shall deliver the possession of such undertaking of the company or part
thereof to the State Government or to such person as may be specified by the
State Government in this behalf. Sub-section (8) of Section 4 empowers the
State Government to take or cause to be taken such steps as it considers
necessary for securing the possession of the undertaking of the company
C which vested in the State Government under sub-section (1) of Section 3. By
a notification issued under sub-section (2) of Secion 3, the State Government
for efficient management and administration, transferred the undertaking (save
lands and buildings) to the Hotel Authority constituted under Section 5 of the
Act of 1980.

D Mr. Mukul Rohtagi, learned Additional Section General has submitted
that as there was no transfer of the lands and buildings to the Hotel Authority,
in view of the specific bar in sub-section (2) of Section 3 of the Act of 1980, ~--
any action of the Hotel Authority vis-a-vis the respondents would not be
binding on the government. We shall deal with this submission at a subsequent
E stage.
Mr. Mukul Rohtagi, learned Additional Solicitor General has further
submitted that as in terms of sub-section (l) of Section 3 of the Act of 1980,
the vesting of undertaking absolutely was complete on the appointed day and
on such vesting it be freed and discharged from any trust, obligation, mortgage,
change, lien and all other encumbrances affecting it, the tenancy between the
F respondents and the erstwhile company came to an end. It was further
.l
submitted that the word 'contract' occurring in sub-section (2) includes tenancy
right and by virtue of the said sub-section (2), the tenancy between the
respondents with the erstwhile .company came to and end. According to the
learned Additional Solicitor General as the tenancy had come to an end, the
G respondents were in default of there legal liability to hand over the possession
of premises in question as per sub-section ('.].) of Section 4 of the Act of 1980
so the State Government by invoking the provision of sub-section (8) of the
said Section could take such steps as it considered necessary for securing
possession and such steps would include eviction by force.

H It is not disputed that there was a relationship of landlord and tenants
STATE v. VISHUNARA YAN AND ASSOC. (P) LTD. [PHUKAN, J.] 567
.,
·between the erstwhile company and the respondents. The rights and obligation A
of the landlord and tenant would be governed either by the Transfer of
Property Act or by rent law in force and the tenancy of the demised premises
could be terminated by taking action under the provisions of either of these
two Acts and possession thereof could be recovered in accordance with law.
Though under sub-section (I) of Section 4 of the Act of 1980, the undertaking
vested in the State Government free from any trust, obligation, mortgage,
B
change, lien and all other encumbrances, we are unable to agree with the
learned Additional Solicitor General that under the said sub-section (1) the
relationship of landlord and tenant in the case in hand was put to an end
inasmuch as the tenancy could not be treated as trust, obligation, mortgage
"" and change, etc, as stated in the said sub-section. In regard to sub-section (2) c
which provides that any 'contract' in relation to the undertaking shall be
deemed to have terminated on the appointed day, on the same analogy, we
hold that by this deeming provision does not relate to the relationship of
landlord and tenant which could not be said to have come to an end.
Consequently, we find no force in the submission of Mr. Mukul Rohtagi and
we hold that even after taking over the undertaking by virtue of the Act of D
1980, the relationship of the landlord and the tenant continued and in place
of the erstwhile company, the State Government stepped into the shoes of
~
landlord.

The Management of the hotel was handed over to the Hotel Authority. E
The said Authority also accepted rents from the respondents and on December
12, 1994 on a direction by the State Government, the said Authority issued.
a circular to the respondents asking them to establish their rights, if any. As
mentioned earlier, Mr. Mukul Rohtagi has submitted that as there was no
. "' transfer of lands and buildings to the Hotel Authority, the acceptance of rent
by the said Authority would not bind the Government. We are unable to F
accept the coritention as in our opinion the Authority acted on behalf of the
government both while accepting rent and also issuing notices to the
~
respondents. The premises in question are located within the hotel premises
and on handing over the Management to the Authority, it acted on behalf of
the Government.
G

- " Let us examine the scope and ambit of sub-section (7) and (8) of
Section 4 of the Act of 1980 assuming that the tenancy came to an end as
urged by Mr. Mukul Rohtagi. Under sub-section (7) any person in possession
or custody or control of the whole or any part of the undertaking of the
company before the appointed day, shall deliver such possession to the State H
568 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002] 2 S.C.R.

A Government or any person as may be specified by the State Government and
in view of this statutory obligation, the respondents were bound under the
law to hand over the possession and on failure to do so, the State Government
could take steps for securing possession by use of force. Under sub-section
(8) of Section 4 of the Act of 1980, such steps as may be considered necessary,
B may be taken for securing possession. In our considered view such steps
cannot and would not include use of force. As laid down by this court in ,_
'
~
Bishan Das and Ors., (supra) and Maharaja Dharamander Prasad Singh and
Ors., (supra) possession can be resumed by the State Government only in a
manner known to or recognised by law and it cannot resume possession
otherwise than in due course of law. In view of the ratio laid down in the
C aforementioned case, such legal steps would mean action by the State
Government under any relevant law for obtaining possession and not by
using police power. We make it clear that we are not expressing any opinion
whether such steps may include action under the Act of 1976 or any other
law in force in the State of West Bengal. We are of the opinion that the action
of the appellants by removing the respondents from the premises in question
D with the help of police is destructive of the basic principle of rule of law.

Mr. Mu~ul Rohtagi has further tried to defend the action of the appellants
on the ground of public interest. We may quote below long title of the Act
of 1980 which runs as follows :- ·
E "Whereas it is expedient to provide for the acquisition of the
undertaking of the Great Eastern Hotel Limited for the purpose of
ensuring better facilities for boarding and lodging to the members of
the public and for matters connected therewith. Or incidental thereto."

By the long title the legislature made it clear that the Great Eastern
F Hotel was acquired by the Act of 1980 for purpose of ensuring better facilities
for boarding and lodging to the members of the public and for matter connected
therewith. As held by the High Court the hotel, which is a star hotel is meant
for use by the affluent section of the society and not for general public. The
term 'members of the public' would mean occupants of the hotel, who can
G use he hotel on payment and not general public. Therefore, this is purely
commercial venture and there was no element of public purpose or public
interest. Therefore, the contention of Mr. Rohtagi is rejected.

In the absence of specific statutory provision can a person, on the
ground of public interest, be evicted by force by the State or its executive
H officers without following due course of law?_ In view of the ratio laid down
STATEv. VISHUNARAYAN AND ASSOC. (P) LTD. [PHUKAN,J.] 569

in Bishan Das and Ors., (supra) and Maharaja Dharamander Prasad Singh A
and Ors., (supra), we hold that such an action of eviction by force cannot be
justified in Jaw and for taking possession, action has to be taken in accordance
with the law.

A stand has been taken by Mr. Rohtagi that powers given to the
government and its officials by sub-section (8) of Section 4 of the Act of B
1980 is akin to Section 47 of the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. Under
Section 16, collector can take possession after the award is made and under
Section 17, possession can be taken after notice under sub-section (I) of
Section 9 of the Act of 1980 is issued. For taking the possession of the land
from the landowner, in our view Section 47 cannot be invoked. As on June C
28, 1997, the representative of the government gave oral notice to the
respondents to deliver possession, Mr. Mukul Rohtagi has contended that the
respondents had sufficient notice. We are unable to accept the contention
inasmuch as direction was given to vacate the premises in question without
any opportunity to show cause.

Lastly, it was contended by Mr. Mukul Rohtagi that as the respondents
were trespassers, the government could evict them by invoking Section 6A
of the Act of 1976. The said sub-section runs as follows :-

"6A. Eviction of unauthorised occupants and penalty for such
occupation. Where any person, not being a tenant, occupies, or remains E
in occupation of, any Government premises without the written order
of the prescribed authority,-

(a) the prescribed authority, or any officer authorised by it in this
behalf, may take such steps and use such force as may be necessary
to take possession of the premises and may also enter into the F
premises for the said purpose; and
(b) such person shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term
which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend
to one thousand rupees, or with both."

Section 6A can be invoked against any person, who is not a tenant or
G
who remains in occupation of any government premises without written order
of the prescribed authority. The respondents were tenants under the erstwhile
company and continued to do so as held by us. Therefore, they cannot be
evicted by invoking powers conferred on the Authority under Section 6A of
the Act of 1976. However, we are not deciding the controversy as to whether H
570 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2002) 2 S.C.R.

A this Act would apply only to.residential premises, as held by the High Court.
For what has been stated above we hold that the action of the State
Government cannot be justified in law and accordingly we uphold the
impugned judgment of the High Court. In the result appeals are dismissed.
Cost on the parties.
B
S.K.S. Appeals dismissed. ·

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