B.K.MEHTA - (1.)The 1st petitioner-Company is a public limited company registered under the Companies Act 1956 having its registered office at Bombay and one of its branches at Dharampur in Junagadh district. The second petitioner is the Chairman and share-holder of the 1st petitioner Company.
(2.)The Petitioner-Company purchased from the Collector Junagadh agricultural land bearing S. No. 1/2/part admeasuring about 150 acres situate within the revenue limits of village Dharampur in Ranavav taluka of the Junagadh district. By an order of 14/03/1968 the State Government granted the said land to the petitioner-company at the rate of Rs. 1 0 per acre. The Collector Junagadh had passed an order in that behalf on 20/03/1968 The land was purchased for purposes of putting up the factory of the petitioner-company. The Collector by the said order of 20/03/1968 fixed non-agricultural assessment on the said land at the rate of 0-0-2 per sq. yard. It was also stated in the said order that the State Government would be entitled to alter the assessment from time to time. The petitioner company thereafter required more land and the State Government granted another piece of land of about 50 acres to the petitioner- company which was required for purposes of constructing staff quarters. The said land was sold at the rate of Rs. 1200.00 per acre. Similarly another piece of land admeasuring about 5 acres was sold to the petitioner-company at the rate of Rs. 2 500 per acre for purposes of constructing officers quarters.
(3.)The terms and conditions on which the said two pieces of land aggregating about 55 acres were granted to the petitioner-company were stated in the order passed by the Collector on 27/05/1969 The non-agricultural assessment fixed for these additional two pieces of land was same namely 0 per sq. yard. By the Gujarat Land Revenue (Amendment) Rules 1969 the unit for levying non-agricultural assessment was changed from square yard to square meter and the rate of 0-0-2 was substituted by two paise. The Collector was therefore empowered to fix the non-agricultural assessment upto a maximum limit of two paise per sq. meter. The Collector Junagadh did not alter the non-agricultural assessment on the land of the petitioner-company till 1980. The petitioner-company therefore continued to pay the non-agricultural assessment at the rate of two pai per sq. yard as per the orders of grant.