A.Kabir, J. - (1.) The petitioner No. 1 is a Society registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961, and the petitioner No. 2, a Chartered Accountant, is the Joint Secretary thereof. At the request of the State Government the Society which was operating in Tripura set up a Bull Mother Farm-cum-Rural Training and Demonstration Centre at Ramshai in Jalpaiguri for imparting rural training and cross-breeding on lands allotted by the Government of West Bengal, comprising an area measuring 96.61 acres under plot Nos. 1410 to 1425, 1677/78 and 1236, J.L. No. 83(9) under new mouza Ramshai, Thana Maynaguri in the District of Jalpaiguri. Such allotment was subsequently formalised by execution of a registered Indenture of Lease dated 18th March, 1983, whereby the West Bengal Government granted to the Society a lease of the said lands for 30 years commencing from 26th May, 1981, on payment of the stipulated premium and annual rent.
(2.) Apart from the above, the Society decided to establish another unit of the Dibyadaya Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Jalpaiguri with the support of various Government institutions such as, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Along with some of the office bearers of the Society, the Director of Animal Husbandry and the Joint Director of Agriculture, Government of West Bengal, along with the zonal co-ordinator of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the Zilla Savadhipati and other members of the Block Panchayat, representatives of the farmers, are all members of the Managing Committee of the said Krishi Vigyan Kendra. The said Kendra was established mainly for training of farmers with modern technology in the field of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and allied services and in that regard various modernised trading courses were also organised in the Krishi Vigyan Kendra. For the purpose of running the Kendra the State Government allotted a further quantum of land measuring 54.09 acres in Mouza Panibari, under Moynaguri Police Station, in the District of Jalpaiguri, on the and from 11th November, 1983. Such allotment was thereafter regularised by an Indenture of Lease dated 28th March, 1985 for a period of 30 years commencing 11th November, 1983. The said lease also contains covenants and terms and conditions similar to those contained in the earlier lease dated 18th March, 1983.
(3.) It is the case of the petitioner that the said Krishi Vigyan Kendra implemented various projects of the State and Central Governments through its various agencies which included the Indo-Dutch North Bengal Tarai Project with the financial assistance of the Royal Government of Netherlands for the purpose of water management. In order to run the Kendra the Society took the service of various people whose salaries were in the scale as was given to the employees of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the National Dairy Development Board.;