K. C. Agarwal, J. - (1.) THESE two writ petitions have been preferred against the judgment of the District Judge, Meerut dated 31-5-1982, dismissing the appeals of the two petitioners filed under Section 33 of Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). Since the points involved in these two writ petitions are common, the facts of only one of them, namely, writ petition no. 8367 of 1982, would be sufficient to decide the two cases.
(2.) ON October 15, 1976, the petitioner filed a return under sub-section (1) of Section 6 of the Act. Thereafter, a draft statement was prepared by the Competent Authority and served upon the petitioner proposing to declare 334683 sq. mts. of land as surplus with the petitioner. The petitioner went up in appeal which was dismissed on 31-5-1982. Hence; the writ. The land in dispute comprises of seven plots. The total area of the aforesaid seven plots came to 5 bighas 14 biswas which was equivalent to 14416.89 sq. mts. In addition, there were two houses 12/A and 12/B in Ashoka Colony covering an area of 147 sq. yards. The share of the petitioner in the aforesaid land, which was l/3rd, came to 4846 83 sq. mts. After giving benefit of 1500 sq. mts. which was the ceiling area of Meerut, the area declared surplus came to 3346.83 sq. mts. Two arguments were addressed before the learned Addl. District Judge as well as before me. The first and the main point is whether the Master Plan which came into force after the draft statement issued under Section 8 by the Competent Authority would be taken into account while determining the nature of land held by the petitioner.
(3.) SECTION 2 (o) of the Act defines urban land. It has two clauses which are as under: (i) any land situated within the limits of urban agglomeration and referred to as such in the master plan; or (ii) in a case where there is no master plan, or where the master plan does not refer to any land as urban land, any land within the limits of an urban agglomeration and situated in any area included within the local limits of a municipality (by whatever name called), a notified area committee, a town area committee, a city and town committee, a small town committee, a cantonment board or a panchayat, but does not include any such land which is mainly used for the purpose of agriculture. For the purpose of this clause an Explanation has been added. Clause (A) of this Explanation provides as to what would "agriculture include". Clause (B) lays down that land shall not be deemed to be used mainly for agricultural purpose unless the qualifications made therein are satisfied. Clause (C) is relevant. It provides: "Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (B) of this Explanation, land shall not be deemed to be mainly used for the purpose of agriculture if the land has been specified in the master plan for a purpose other than agriculture.";