NANDESWAR CHAKRAVARTY AND ORS. Vs. STATE OF ASSAM AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE are eleven petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution of India on which Rules were issued by this Court. By means of these petitions, the requisition Orders in respect of different lands which are the subject matter of separate petitions passed by the Deputy Commissioners under Section 3(1) of the Assam Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948, have been challenged.

(2.) THE constitutionality of the Assam Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act of 1948 which will hereinafter be called the Act, has been challenged. The common point raised in all the petitions is regarding the constitutionality of the Act. The orders of requisition have also been impugned on various other grounds; but these points will be considered when we deal with individual petitions. The Act received the assent of the Governor on the 14th November, 1948. It is a pre -Constitution Act. The provisions of Section 3 of the Act were amended from time to time and the present Section 3 of the Act reads as follows:

(3.) THE other sections of the Act are not relevant for the purposes of the present case. Section 7(3) clearly therefore provides for the payment of compensation. It further provides the method for the determination of the amount and embodies the principles on which the compensation is to be paid. In the first instance, wherever any land of any person is requisitioned, compensation agreed upon in writing between such a person and the Collector is to be paid and in the absence of any such agreement, reasonable compensation is to be paid both in respect of the requisition and any damage done during the period of requisition to such land other than those which would have been sustained by natural causes.