Government Of Nct Of Delhi vs Jangli Ram & Ors
2015 Latest Caselaw 4654 Del

          *IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

%                                           Date of decision: 3rd July, 2015

+                               LPA 112/2015
       GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI           ..... Appellant
                  Through: Mr. Biraja Mahapatra, Adv.

                                   Versus
    JANGLI RAM & ORS                       ..... Respondents

Through: Mr. Sudhanshu Tomar, Adv.

CORAM :-

HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJIV SAHAI ENDLAW

RAJIV SAHAI ENDLAW, J

1. This intra-court appeal impugns the judgment dated 3rd September,

2014 of the learned Single Judge allowing W.P.(C) No.5105/2013 preferred

by the respondent No.1 (respondent No.2 is the Delhi Development

Authority) by directing the appellant to decide the application of the

respondent No.1 / writ petitioner for allotment of alternative residential plot

in lieu of acquired land as per his eligibility within two months thereof and

to communicate decision thereof to the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner.

2. Notice of the appeal was issued. We heard the counsel for the

appellant and the counsel for the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner on 24th

April, 2015 and reserved judgment. The counsel for the respondent No.1 /

writ petitioner, as directed, has thereafter filed a copy of the writ petition

from which this appeal arises, counter affidavit filed thereto by the appellant

and the rejoinder of the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner thereto.

3. The respondent No.1 / writ petitioner filed the writ petition from

which this appeal arises contending, i) that he is the husband of late Smt.

Chandri who was the bhumidar of agricultural land acquired in the year

1986-87; ii) that the wife of the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner was not

satisfied with the compensation awarded for acquisition and made a

reference under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 as well as an

application for alternative residential plot as per the policy of the

government; iii) that the wife of the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner vide

registered Will dated 28th May, 1996 bequeathed all her properties including

the alternative plot in lieu of acquired land applied for by her to her husband

i.e. the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner; iv) that the wife of the respondent

No.1 / writ petitioner died on 8th October, 1996 and under her Will aforesaid

the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner became entitled to the alternative plot

applied for in lieu of acquired land; v) that the respondent No.1 / writ

petitioner vide letter dated 6th August, 1999 informed the appellant of the

demise of his wife and the Will aforesaid and called upon them to allot

alternative plot in lieu of acquired land in his name instead of in the name of

his deceased wife; vi) that however the alternative plot in lieu of acquired

land was not allotted inspite of repeated enquiries and reminders of the

respondent No.1 / writ petitioner; vii) that the respondent No.1 / writ

petitioner in the year 2012 learnt that some other villagers had already been

allotted alternative plot in lieu of acquired land; viii) that the respondent

No.1 / writ petitioner thereafter also made enquiries including under the

Right to Information Act, 2005 but without any avail.

Accordingly, in or about July-August, 2013 writ petition from which

this appeal arises was filed seeking a direction to the appellant to allot

alternative plot in lieu of acquired land.

4. The appellant contested the writ petition by filing a counter affidavit

pleading, i) that the case of the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner was a

"closed one" and as per policy could not be re-opened; ii) that the land of the

wife of the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner was acquired vide Notification

dated 27th January, 1984 and compensation paid and possession of the land

taken on 27th September, 1986; iii) that though the wife of the respondent

No.1 / writ petitioner on 12th November, 1987 made an application for

alternative plot in lieu of acquired land but thereafter failed to either pursue

the same or respond to the queries made and accordingly it was presumed

that she was not interested and her case was closed on 20th January, 1992; iv)

that the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner vide his letter dated 5 th February,

1997 stated that he had come to know that the file of allotment of alternative

flat had been closed and requesting to reopen the said file; v) that the

respondent No.1 / writ petitioner had however concealed the said letter dated

5th February, 1997 from the writ petition and had not approached the Court

with clean hands and the writ petition was liable to be dismissed on this

ground alone; vi) that thus the plea of the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner

that he learnt from the villagers in 2012 that allotments of alternative plots

against acquired land were being made, was false.

5. The respondent No.1 / writ petitioner filed a rejoinder to the aforesaid

counter affidavit not disputing that he had written the letter dated 5th

February, 1997 but pleading, i) that his wife had neither received any

enquiries from the appellant pursuant to which her file was closed nor any

intimation of closure of the file; ii) that he had learnt of the said closure after

visiting the office of the appellant and had accordingly written the letter

dated 5th February, 1997; iii) that he was thereafter continuously following

up the matter but to no avail.

6. The learned Single Judge vide the impugned judgment has allowed

the writ petition as aforesaid, reasoning:

a) that though the counsel for the appellant had relied on judgment

dated 7th March, 2012 in LPA No.101/2010 titled Government

of NCT of Delhi Vs. Smt. Veerwati and in LPA No.461/2010

titled Government of NCT of Delhi Vs. Narain Singh and on

Raj Karan Vs. Land and Building Department 148 (2008)

DLT 460 (DB) to contend that closed cases cannot be re-opened

but from a reading of the judgment dated 6th November, 2009

of the Single Judge in W.P.(C) No.3587/2007 titled Narain

Singh Vs. Government of NCT of Delhi it was evident that

"from the date of decision taken by respondents on 11 th

October, 1998 that up to 2000 cases, the closed cases were

reopened and since 2000 respondent No.1 had stopped to

reopen the cases";

b) that the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner had however applied

for reopening of the case on 5th February, 1997, prior to the year

2000;

c) that the appellant still refused to re-open the closed case of the

respondent No.1 / writ petitioner;

d) therefore, keeping in view the parity and in the interest of

justice, the appellant was directed to decide the application of

the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner for allotment of alternative

plot in lieu of acquired land as per his eligibility, within two

months thereof and to communicate the decision to the

respondent No.1 / writ petitioner.

7. The counsel for the respondent no.1 / writ petitioner after the hearing

has also handed over copies of the judgment of the Division Bench in

Narain Singh and Raj Karan (supra).

8. We are afraid, the aspect of laches and acquiescence seems to have

totally escaped the learned Single Judge.

9. What becomes apparent from the aforesaid narrative is:

i) that the wife of the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner applied for

alternative plot in lieu of acquired land as far back as in the year

1987; during her lifetime till 8th October, 1996, inspite of no

allotment of alternative plot in lieu of acquired land having

been made to her or even a recommendation for allotment

having been made in her favour, she did not take any action

whatsoever and slept on her right to be considered for such

allotment;

ii) that ordinarily as per the culture, customs prevalent in the

society to which the petitioner belongs, it is rarely the lady of

the house who pursues such matters relating to immovable

properties and it is generally their husbands or other male

members of the house who lookafter such affairs; it is also not

the case of the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner that in their

household, it was his wife who was independently pursuing the

application for alternative plot in lieu of acquired land and that

he was oblivious of the same till her demise; the respondent

No.1 / writ petitioner cannot thus claim that he became

involved in the matter only after the demise of his wife on 8 th

October, 1996; he is to be equally blamed for sleeping over the

matter till then;

iii) that the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner though in the writ

petition did not disclose that he was as on 5 th February, 1997

aware of the closure of the file, upon being confronted with the

letter in the counter affidavit has now admitted to the same; it is

a disputed question of fact whether he learnt of the same on

making enquiries in the office of the appellant after the demise

of his wife or was aware of the same since prior thereto;

iv) the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner however after 5th February,

1997 also, when he was admittedly aware of the file having

been closed, did not take any remedy thereagainst till July-

August, 2013 i.e. for nearly 16 years, when he filed the writ

petition from which the appeal arises;

v) though the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner generally claims

that he was thereafter pursuing the matter with the appellant but

along with the writ petition has filed copies only of letters dated

6th August, 1999, 30th December, 1999, 29th August, 2006

claimed to have been written in this regard;

vi) the same also shows that the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner,

inspite of knowledge at least on 5th February, 1997 of the matter

of the application for alternative land in lieu of acquired land

having attained finality i.e. having been closed, did not show

any urgency and wrote a only few letters, that too with long

gaps in between and inspite of receiving no response thereto or

assurance of any kind, still did not chose to take any remedy

against the closure;

vii) the last of the aforesaid letter is dated 29th August, 2006; the

respondent No.1 / writ petitioner again thereafter also slept till

he made the RTI query aforesaid in 2012 and thereafter filed

this petition in July-August, 2013 as aforesaid.

10. We have wondered that if not in the aforesaid situation, where else

would the principles of laches, acquiescence, waiver would be attracted.

11. We have recently in Ramwati Vs. Government of NCT of Delhi

MANU/DE/2387/2014 held that there is an element of urgency and

rehabilitation in the scheme for allotment of alternative plots and finding the

petitioner therein to have filed the writ petition after a delay of thirteen

years, upheld the order of dismissal of writ petition. An applicant for

alternative land in lieu of acquired land, who sleeps over his / her right

cannot wake up as and when he / she desires and claim allotment of

alternative land. The Scheme of allotment of alternative residential plot in

lieu of acquired land is rehabilitative in nature and considering that such

allotment of alternative land is in lieu of acquired land, there is an element of

urgency therein. Once an applicant is found to have not been diligent in

pursuing such an application and / or is found to have slept over the matter,

it has but to be presumed that he / she is not interested and not in need of any

welfare rehabilitative measure. It cannot be lost sight of that the full bench

of this Court in Ramanand Vs. Union of India AIR 1994 Delhi 29 has held

that the Scheme does not vest any right in anyone to alterative land and that

the only right under the Scheme is a right to be considered; it is for the

applicant to take steps for his / her case to be considered and if does not take

such steps, cannot claim that any right has been violated.

12. In our view the claim of the respondent No.1/ writ petitioner in the

writ petition filed in July-August, 2013 for alternative land in lieu of land

which was acquired in 1986 i.e. nearly 27 years prior to the filing of the writ

petition and application for which was closed in the year 1992 i.e. 21 years

prior to the filing of the writ petition, was clearly barred and ought not to

have been ordered to be considered.

13. As far as the reasoning given by the learned Single Judge is

concerned, though in the light of the above, need is not felt to deal therewith

but we may observe that in Raj Karan (supra) the Division Bench of this

Court finding the applicant to have, after closure of his case, to have

remained quiet and to have gone into deep slumber and having been not

diligent in pursuing his case for allotment of alternative land and further

finding the scheme to be not permitting reopening of a closed matter, held

the applicant to be not entitled to any relief. In Smt. Veerwati and Narain

Singh (supra) to which one of us i.e. Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw was a party,

the application for reopening of the closed case had been entertained and

inspite of being diligently pursued, no decision thereon had been taken and

immediately whereafter the applicants had approached the Courts; in the

said facts, Raj Karan (supra) was distinguished by holding that while the

applicant in Raj Karan had not pursued the matter, the applicant in Smt.

Veerwati and Narain Singh had been pursuing the matter. The facts of the

present case are akin to that of Raj Karan rather than of Veerawati and/or

Narain Singh. The learned Single Judge, we respectfully state, did not

notice the said distinction. The reasoning in the impugned judgment thus

cannot be upheld.

14. There is another aspect. The respondent No.1 / writ petitioner in the

present case, is clearly guilty of not approaching the writ court for equitable

relief with clean hands. The respondent No.1 / writ petitioner filed the writ

petition portraying that the application of his wife for alternative land in lieu

of acquired land was pending consideration and he filed the writ petition

only when other villagers whose land had also been acquired vide the same

award were allotted alternative plot in lieu of acquired land. However what

has transpired is that the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner at least 21 years

prior to the filing of the writ petition, if not earlier, was aware of the

application having been rejected by closing the file. It is obvious that the

respondent No.1 / writ petitioner was aware that if he disclosed about the

letter dated 5th February, 1997 in the writ petition, his writ petition may not

even be entertained. The respondent No.1 / writ petitioner clearly tried to

take advantage of the records of the appellant being ill kept and often

untraceable and suppressed material fact. He is not entitled to any relief on

this ground as well. It is settled position that such conduct of the respondent

no.1/writ petitioner itself disentitled him from any relief.

15. The appeal therefore deserves to be allowed and is allowed. The

impugned judgment is set aside and axiomatically the writ petition filed by

the respondent No.1 / writ petitioner is dismissed. The respondent No.1 /

writ petitioner having indulged in suppression of material fact and

misrepresentation, is also burdened with costs of these proceedings of

Rs.20,000/- payable to the appellant within one month hereof.

RAJIV SAHAI ENDLAW, J

CHIEF JUSTICE JULY 03, 2015 „gsr‟