SACHINDRA MOHAN NANDY.& ORS. versus STATE OF WEST BENGAL & ORS.

In our order dated March I 0, 1970, we stated that we will give our reasons later for rejecting the points raised before us. We now proceed to give. those reasons.

p. 796, margin F

This is an appeal against .the judgment of the High Court of -Calcutta (Bose, C.J., and Mitra, J;) dismissing the appe:ll of Sachindra Mohan Nandy and Janandra Mohan Nandy, now appellants before us, against the judgment of Mukharji, J., dischargtng the rule obtained by the appellants under Art. 286 of the Constitution. In order to appreciate the. points rasied before u> it is necessary to state the relevant facts.

p. 796, margin F

On October 9, 1960 and October 10, 1960, the Collector of Hoogly made iwo orders under s. 3(1) of the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948-hereinafter referred to as the Acquisition Act. The Collector purported to requisition land belonging to the appellants for certain public purpose&. He had issued the orders in exercise of the powers which had been conferred upon him by notification No, 3775-L.A. dated May 11, 1948, published in the Calcutta Gazette, Part I, on May 27, 1948. This notification had authorised the Collector to exercise the powers under s. 3(1) of tl:!.e Acquisition Act. When this notification was passed Chandemagore, where the requisitioned land is situate, was not part of West Bengal and it is on this fact that one argument, shortly to be mentioned, rests.

pp. 796–797, margin G

According to the appellants the Acquisition Act has never been extended and made applicable to Chandernagore. For \lPPreciating this particular poin!. it is necessary state the history of Chan· demagore. It is well-known that it was a French settlement in India, and it was only on October 2, 1954, that it was merged in 'the State of Bengal Secfion 3 of the Chandernagore (Merger) Act, 1954 (XXXVI of 1954) provided that Chandernagore shall form part of the State of West Bengal, District of Hoogly, and the . State Government shall provide for the administration of Chandernagore by constituting it into a new sub-division of the District of Hoogly. Section 17 provided that "all laws which immediately before the appointed day extend to, or are in force in, the State of West Bengal generally shall, as from that day, extend to, or, as the case may lie. come into force in, Chanderna· gore." Section 18 has not much relevance but the learned counsel relied on it. Section 18(1) reads thus :

p. 797, margin A

"18(1) Repeal of Correspondinl! laws and savings : Any law in force in Chandernagore 'immediarely before the appointed day (hereafter in this Act referred to as the "correspo~ing ~aw") which corresponds to any law re- !er!cd to m. section 17, whether su~h corresponding Jaw 1s m force m Chandemagore by Virtue of the Chail'dernagore (Application of Laws) Order, 1950, or by virrue 0f any notification issued under th~ <;handernagore (Ad· ministration) Regulation, 1952 (Reg. 1 of 1952) or otherwise, shall, a. from that duty, stand repealed in Chandernagore.

p. 797, margin E

The word "law" was defined in the Chandernagore (Merger) Act, 1954, as follows: (S. 2(d))

p. 797, margin G

" "law" means so much of any enactment, Ordinance, Regulation, _order, rule, scheme, notification, bye- Jaw or any other mstrument having the force of law as relates to matters Clnumerated in List I and List Ill in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution."

p. 797, margin G

,After this the Legislature of West Bengal enacted the Chan- . demagore (Assimilation of Laws) Act, 1955. Section 2(c) bf this Act defined "law" to mean "so much of any Act, Ordinance, Regulation, order, rule, scheme, notification, .bye-law or any other instrument having the. force of law as relates to matters enumerated in List II in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India." Section 3 provides that "all laws which immediately before the appointed day extend to, or are in force in, the State of West Bengal generally shall, as from that day, extend to, or, as the case may be, come into force in Chandernagore." Section 4(1) provided for repeal of corresponding laws and reads :

p. 798

"4(1) Any law in force in Chandemagore immediately befpre the appointed day (hereinafter in this Act referred to as "corresponding law") which corresponds to any law referred to in section 3, whether such corresponding Jaw is in force in Chandernagore by vir1!ue of 'the Chandernagore (J\pplication of Laws) Order, 1950 or by virtue of any notification issued under the Chandernagore (Administration) Regulation, 1952, or otherwise,

p. 798

shall as from the day stand repealed in Chandernagore." Section 8, which was inserted in 1959, removed certain doubts regarding the extension of certain acts to Chandernagore, in the following terms :

p. 798, margin C

"8. Notwithstanding anything .to the contrary, in any judgment or decision of any court tribunal or authority, the' following Acts, tha~ is to say,-The West Bengal Land Development and Planning Act, 1948, The West Bengal Non-Agricul•ural Tenancy Act, 1949 and The West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act, 1953 shall extend ·to and be deemed always to have extended to Chandernagore with effect from the !lppointed day!'

p. 798, margin E

We may here set out the notifications empowering Sri B. K. Chatterjee, I.AS. to perform the functions of the Collector in the District of Hooghly under the. Acquisition Act. By the . first notification dated September 15, 1959, the Governor was pleased "to specially appoint Sri B. K. Chatterjee, I.AS., Additional District Magistrate, Hooghly, to perform the functions of a Collector .under the said Act in the District of Hooggl.y." Another notification issued on the same day had authorisea Sri B. K. Cliatterjee, I.AS., Additional'District Magistrate, Hooghly, to requisition by order in writing any land 'within the local limits of the District of Hooghly. The two requisition orders purport to have been signed·by the Collector of Hooghly.

p. 798, margin F

The notification dated May 11, 1948, to which reference has been made above reads as follows : ·

p. 799

"No. 3775 L.A. (P.W.) 11th May, 1948. In exercise of the powers conferred by Sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act 1948 (West Bengal Act II of 1948), the Governor is pleased hereby to authorise each· of the Collector and the Deputy Commissioners mentioned in the Schedule below to requisition, by order in writing, in pursuance of the provisions of the said Sub-section (1) of the said Section 3, (torn) land within the local

p. 799

limits of his jurisdiction and (torn) to make such further orders as appear to him to be necessary '<lr expedient in connection with the requisitioning :

p. 799

Schedule. Collector of Hooghly District

p. 799, margin C

The learned counsel has raised \]le following points before us : (1) that the orders of requisition were illegal as the Acqu!sition Act under which they were issued did not apply to the territlory previously known as French Chandernagore; and (2) that under the notification dated May 11, 1948, the Collector could exerci&e the powers of requisition only in respect of lands within the local limits of the territories then forming part of the Hooghly District.

p. 799, margin C

Regarding the first point, it seems' to us that there is no force in the contentions. Section 3 of the Chandernago1e (Merger) Act, 195.4, made Chanderna~ore part of tbe State of West Bengal, and s. 17 extended the Acquisition Act to it. The Ac9uisition Act was a law within the meaning of "Jaw" contained m s. 2(c) of the Chandernagore (Assimilation of Laws) Act because it relatec;I to a matter enumerated in List II in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution. List II, as it then existed, contained the following entries :

p. 799, margin C

"36. Acquisition or requisitioning of property, except for the purposes of the Union, subject to .the pro-

p. 799, margin C

visions of entry 42 of List III." Entry 42 of List III was to the following effect :

p. 799, margin C

"Principles on which compensation for property acquired or requisitioned for the purposes of the Union or

p. 799, margin C

of a State or for any other public purpose· is to be determined, and the form and the manner in which sucl1 compensation is to be given."

p. 799, margin C

Insofar as the Acquisition Act related to entry 42 of, List III it was applied bys. 3 of the Chandemagore (Assimilation of Laws) Act 1955, ands. 17 of the Chandemagore (Merger) Act, 1954, read with the definition of the word "law" in s. 2(d) of the latter Act.

p. 800, margin A

' The learned counsel further urged, before us that this law was not in force in the State of West Bengal "generally" bceause it provided that it shall remain in force upto a certafn date and this qate had been changed from tiine to cime. In 1954 it was provided that it shall remain in force upto March 31, 1957. We are unable to appreciate how the word "generally" has any reference to the duraiion of the time during which an act has to operate. We agree with the High Court that the word "generally" refers to the territorv of West Benga.. ,

p. 800, margin A

Another argument that was urged before us was that because there was no corresponding law within the meaning of s. 17 of the Chandernagore (Merger) Act, 1954, and s. 4 of the Chandernagore '(Assimilation of Laws) Act, 1955, s. 3 of the latter Act did not have the effect of extending the Acquisition Act to Chandernagore. We are unable to appreciate this reasoning. Section 4 has a limited effect and that is t1hat if there is a corresponding law then that law shall, as from that date, stand repealed in Chandernagore. If there is no corresponding law then s. 4 does not operate and it has no effect on the scope of s. 3.

p. 800, margin C

It was finally urged-in this connection that as there was no law ,on the subject of requisitioning of property in French territory, the citizens enjoyed the privilege of immunity and any order to deprive the citizens of that immunity should have, been much more specific. We agree with the High Court that there is no force in this contention. If by virtue of s. 3 of the Assimilation of Laws Act an Act becomes applicable to Chandetnagore all privileges and immu- ·llities in conflict with that Act would cease to exist.

p. 800, margin E

Coming t<i the seco11d point, we agree with the High Court that the Collector .J>f-Hooghly had the authority to issue the orders of requisition in question. If the order of requisition is by a collectqr, then the no.tification of 1948 applies and the Collector of Hooghly would be authorised to issue orders requisitioning land existing in Chandemagore because Chandernagore had come within the limits of his jurisdiction. The notification must be construed to refer to the limits ,of the District as it exists on the date of the exercise of the powers conferred by the notification. If the orders of requisition were issued by Shri B. K. Chatterjee, l.A.S., Additional District Magistrate, then he had authority by virtue of the notification dated September 15, 1959, mentioned above.

p. 800, margin E

The learned counsel, referring to the Acquisition Act, as it stood in 1959, and the definition of "collector" ("the Collector of

p. 800, margin H

(Sikri, C.J.) a district and includes a Deputy Commissioner and any officer specially appointed by the State Government to perform the functions of a Collector under this Act) urged that the Additional District Magistrate was not "specially appointed." There is no force in thi; point. The notification of September 15, 1959, amounts to special appointment within the definition of "Collector."

p. 801

We referred the following question to the Constitution B~nch which has answered it in the negative :-

p. 801

"Whether the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act 1948 is ultra vires the Constitution under Art. 19(1)(f) read with Art. 19(5) ?"

p. 801

In the result the appeal fails and is dismissed with costs. G.C. Appeal dismissed.

p. 801, margin C