http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 1 of 4  

PETITIONER: SHAZIABAD SHEROMANI SAHKARI AVAS SAMITILIMITED & ANR. ETC.

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: STATE OF U.P. & ORS. ETC.

DATE OF JUDGMENT31/01/1990

BENCH: MISRA RANGNATH BENCH: MISRA RANGNATH SAWANT, P.B. RAMASWAMY, K.

CITATION:  1990 AIR  645            1990 SCR  (1) 203  1990 SCC  (1) 583        JT 1990 (1)   128  1990 SCALE  (1)151

ACT:     Land  Acquisition Act, 1894: ss.4(1) &  17(1)--Land  ac- quired  by cooperative housing societies prior to  notifica- tion in favour of Ghaziabad Development  Authority--Validity of.

HEADNOTE:     The  appellant cooperative societies consisting of  1739 low  paid Government servants had acquired certain  land  in Ghaziabad for the purpose of providing residential  accommo- dation  to  their members. Subsequently, the said  land  was notified  for  acquisition under ss. 4(1) and  7(1)  of  the Land Acquisition Act for the Ghaziabad Development  Authori- ty.  Representations made by the appellants under s.  5A  of the Act were rejected.     In  the writ petitions, filed under Article 226  of  the Constitution,  it was contended for the appellant  societies that the Development Authority constituted by the State  for the  same purpose should not have been permitted to  acquire the  said  land to their prejudice, and that  there  was  no justification for depriving them of their right to represen- tation under s. 5A of the Act. The High Court dismissed  the writ petitions. Allowing the appeals by special leave, the Court,     HELD:  1. The members of the appellant societies  should not  be denied residential accommodation for which they  had taken effective steps before the acquisition for the Ghazia- bad Development Authority was notified. [205G]     2.1 Keeping in view the number of eligible members,  the total  area  which they had acquired and  entrusted  to  the societies  for construction, the capacity of the members  to pay  for  the construction now charged  by  the  Development Authority, the need for planned development of the area  and all other relevant facts, it would be sufficient if each one of them was provided with an area of 80 sq. yards.  [205G-H; 206A] 204     2.2 High rise construction for the poor sections of  the society  would not be convenient. If the double storey  con- struction  with an area of 80 sq. yards is adopted about  20

http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 2 of 4  

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  adjustment two more acres of land shall be made available to the socie- ties 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  ar- rangements.  The  order of release bearing  appropriate  de- scription  to  follow and sketch maps to be  signed  by  the parties. [206D; 207C-E]     3.  The development charges for  sewerage,  electricity, road  connections  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  them- selves. In raising the construction, the bye-laws and  regu- lations  of  the  Development Authority  shall  be  strictly followed, (207G)

JUDGMENT:     CIVIL  APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos.  992997 of 1990.     From  the  Judgment and Order dated 30.8.  1988  of  the Allahabad  High Court in W.P. Nos. 12572 of  1984.  6512/85, 12574/84, 17966/180. 12152,84 and 12159 of 1984.     K.K.  Venugopal, S.N. Misra, Rajinder Sachhar,  Soli  J. Sorabjee,  V.M. Tarkunde, S.S. Ray, O.P. Rana,  Govind  Muk- hoti,  P.C. Kapur, B.P. Sahu, P.N. Misra, Krishna Pd.,  B.P. Singh,  A.K. Goel. J.M. Khanna, Ms. Shafali Khanna, S.  Mar- kandeya,  Ashok Sharma, G.S. Gift Rao, Mrs.  C.  Markandeya, W.A.  Nomani, G. Seshagiri, S.K. Mehta, Aman  Vachher,  Atul Nanda,  N.D. Tyagi, Raju Ramachandran, D. Pillai,  Raja  Ram Agarwal,  Sanjay  Parekh, S.N. Mira and A.K.  Goel  for  the appearing parties. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by     RANGANATH  MISRA, J. We have heard counsel for the  par- ties  at  considerable length but piece meal spread  over  a number of days. Special Leave granted 205     Five cooperative societies with membership of Government servants mostly of’ the lower strata filed six separate writ petitions  before the Allahabad High Court  challenging  the Notification  under  section 4(1) and section 17(1)  of  the Land  Acquisition  Act (1 of 1894) on several  grounds.  The principal  contentions before the High Court were  two-fold: (1)  the  cooperative societies consisting Of the  low  paid Government servants having acquired the land for the purpose of providing residential accommodation to their members, the Ghaziabad Development 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.     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  out  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 petition.  That  is how six Special Leave Petitions were filed before this Court

http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 3 of 4  

and have now been converted into appeals on grant of leave.     Ghaziabad, within the State of Uttar Pradesh,  virtually bordering  Delhi is located at a distance of  28  kilometers from the New Delhi Railway Station in the trans Jamuna area. It has of late become, apart from being a Railway junction,. an  industrial  area as also an  agglomeration  sufficiently developed  to  call it a township. A Master  Plan  has  been drawn up for the area and some portions have been  developed while  the lands of the five cooperative societies have  not yet  been improved on account of the pendency of this  group of cases.     In course of the hearing of these appeals we were satis- fied  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 coopera- tive  societies should not be denied residential  accommoda- tion  for  which they had taken effective steps  before  the acquisition  for the Development authority was notified.  We took into consideration the total number of members as  also the  number  of eligible members; the total area  which  the members had acquired and entrusted to the cooperative socie- ties  for construction; the capacity of the members  to  pay for the construction now charged by the Development authori- ty;  the need of planned development of the area.;  and  all other  relevant  facts and circumstances placed by  all  the parties before 206 us  and  formed the opinion that it would be  sufficient  to meet  the  requirement of members of these societies if each one  of them was provided with a plot limited to an area  of 80 square yards.     Total members entitled to allotment are 1739. Whether it should  be individual plots or double storeyed  construction should  be permitted was seriously debated before us but  we have come to the ultimate conclusion that instead of  single storey  construction  double storey constructions  would  be convenient  and  economical.  The interest  of  the  members represented  by their respective cooperative  societies  and the nature of the housing complex contemplated by the Devel- opment  authority have to be kept in view and  the  ultimate decision,  keeping  the interest of both, has to  be  taken. Counsel  for the Development authority had canvassed  before us  that instead of confining construction 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 would not be convenient--in old age many would  have movement  problem; many of the necessities for living  would be difficult to 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 1st  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: S. No. Name of cooperative      Total members Area society                         entitled to     in acres                                 allotment 1.   Sarkari Karamchari Evam   230        2.54      Mitregan Sahakari Awas      Samiti Ltd. 2.   Kendriya Karamchari Evam   523        5.77      Mitregan Sahakari Awas      Samiti Ltd. 3.    Ghaziabad Shiromani       298        3.29 Sahakari Awas Samiti Ltd.

http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 4 of 4  

4.    Neelain Sahakari Awas     245        2.70  Samiti Ltd. 207 5.    Asha Pushpa Vihar Sahakari 443        4.87 Awas Samiti Ltd. 1739          19.17     Members entitled        1739     Total area              19.17 acres (rounded 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. 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 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 and made over to each of the societies.     We  commend that all the five cooperative societies  may form themselves into a federation for the purpose of  ensur- ing  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 acquisition.     It  has been agreed that development charges for  sewer- age,  electricity,  road connections and the like  shall  be provided  by the Development authority @ Rs. 100 per  square yards  and internal development shall be done by the  socie- ties  themselves. In raising the 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 forward to the fulfillment of the dreams of each of the members of the society in the matter of having a residential accommodation. 208     As soon as the lands are identified and sketch maps  are delivered as directed above the interim orders made by  this Court shall stand dissolved.        The  appeals  are disposed of without any  order  for costs. P.S.S.                         Appeals allowed. 209