Paras Nath Tewari and Others vs State of Uttar Pradesh and Others

A.N. Varma, J.—By means of this petition the Petitioners are challenging the legality of certain proceedings for requisitioning the land under the U.P. Rural Development (Requisitioning of Land) Act 1948. The sole ground of challenge of the petition is that the Tahsildar who has initiated the proceedings for requisitioning of land had not been specifically nominated by the Collector and consequently he was not authorised to exercise the powers vested u/s 3 of the aforesaid Act.

A complete answer to this plea is furnished by the notification referred to in paragraph 3 of the supplementary affidavit. By this notification air the Tahsildars exercising powers of Assistant Collector have been authorised by the State Government to act as Requisitioning Authority under the U.P. Rural Development (Requisitioning of Land) Act. The notification reads as follows:

In suppression of all the previous notifications and orders on the subject and in exercise of the powers conferred by Clause (1) of Section 2 of the U.P. Rural Development (Requisitioning of Land) Act, 1948 (U.P. Act No. XXVII of 1948), the Governor is pleased to appoint :

(i) all Tahsildars exercising the powers of Assistant Collectors as Requisitioning Authority within their respective tahsils to which they may be posted for the time being: and

(ii) all sub-divisional officers exercising the powers of Assistant Collectors as Compensation Officers in the areas of their respective sub-divisions.

In view of this notification specifically conferring powers of Requisitioning Authority on Tahsildars exercising powers of Assistant Collectors, no further authorisation or nomination by the Collector was necessary.

There is no merit in this petition and the same is dismissed. But we make no order as to costs. The interim orders stand discharged.