REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICITION

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 7405 OF 2008

(Arising out of SLP (C) No.15579 of 2006)

Shri Najmuddin & Ors. … Appellants

Versus

Union of India & Ors. … Respondents

JUDGMENT

S.B. Sinha, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. Appellant is before us aggrieved by and dissatisfied with a judgment and

order dated 25.8.2006 passed by a Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature

at Delhi in CM No.7244 of 2005 and Writ Petition No.2068 of 1985.

3. Appellants who are three in number filed the aforementioned writ petition in

the year 1985 questioning the validity and/or legality of a notification issued by
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the Union of India seeking to acquire lands bearing Khasra No.186, admeasuring 3

Bigha 6 Biswas pertaining to Khewat No.50/50, Khatoni No.100 and Khasra

No.334/206 admeasuring 3 bigha 6 biswas as per Khewat No.92/96, Khatoni

No.174, both situated at Village Begumpur, Tehsil Mehrauli, Delhi purported to

be in terms of the Resettlement of Displaced Persons (Land Acquisition) Act,

1948 (for short, ‘the Act’). Indisputably, the said Act was enacted in the wake of

partition of the country as a result whereof there was a large scale migration to and

from India.

Md. Sheruddin whose name was said to have been recorded in Jamabandi in

the year 1948-1949 shifted to Meerut in the State of Uttar Pradesh. He was

declared an evacuee in terms of the Administration of Evacuee Property Act in the

year 1953. He prayed for restoration of the said land and allegedly an order in his

favour was passed on 28.7.1956 by the Additional Custodian of Evacuee Property

(Rural). Yet again after the death of Md. Sheruddin which took place on 9.4.1958,

the property was declared to be an evacuee property and yet again an order

restoring the land in question in favour of the appellants herein was passed on

10.10.1958 by the appropriate authority accepting their claim of entitlement to the

extent of 1/3rd share of said Md. Sheruddin.

4. Appellants contend that although a purported notification in terms of the

provisions of the said Act was issued in 1948 but they were not aware
 3

thereof. They came to know of the said notification while some officials of

the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) came on the said land representing

that the same had been transferred in its favour and, thus, were required to

take possession thereof.

An application for injunction was also filed in the said suit. Thereafter a

suit was filed. An interim order was passed restraining the defendant from

forcibly dispossessing them. The said suit, however, was withdrawn and a writ

petition was filed praying, inter alia for the following reliefs :

“(a) quashing the notification No.F1/(72)/48-LSG(III)

(Annexure P-5) and the offer No.1000-A alleged
to be made on 7.5.1962 (Annexure P-6) in respect
of the said land of the petitioner comprising of
Khasra Nos.186/2 (2 Bighas 18 Biswas) and
Khasra No.334/206 (19 Biswas) total measuring 3
bighas 17 biswas situated in the revenue estate of
village Begum Pur, Tehsil Mehrauli, Union
Territory of Delhi.
(b) quashing the entire acquisition proceedings or any
other subsequent actions of the respondents by
calling the records of the petitioner’s case.
(c) to issue a writ directions order declaring that the
notification and the offer (Annexures P-5 and P-6)
qua the petitioners’ land are illegal null and void
and have no effect whatsoever.
(d) declaring that the action of the respondents are
invidation of fundamental, constitutional and legal
rights guaranteed to the petitioners under Articles
14, 19, 21, 31 and 300-A of the Constitution of
India.
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(e) restraining the respondents from interfering with

the petitioners peaceful occupation, possession,
user, enjoyment, right, title and interest in the
aforesaid land houses and structures standing
thereon and further directing the respondents not
to interfere in any manner in respect of the said
land.
(f) restraining the respondents from taking forcible
possession of the aforesaid land and houses of the
petitioners standing thereon.”

5. Indisputably, an ad-interim order dated 30.8.2005 was passed by the High

Court in terms whereof dispossession was directed to remain stayed. The said ad

interim order was made absolute on or about 20.9.1985.

Before the High Court, the Delhi Development Authority filed a counter

affidavit, inter alia, contending that they had all along been in possession of the

lands in question pursuant to an award made in the proceedings initiated in terms

of the notification of 1948. It was furthermore averred :

“That Shri Najmuddin son of late Mohd. Sheruddin,

petitioner, had filed a suit against the
Defendant/Respondent No.4 in the Lower Court and
obtained stay order in respect of Khasra No.186 and
334/206 of village Begumpur to restrain from
demolishing the plaintiff/petitioner from the land in
question unless through due process of law. The same
has been vacated on 14th February, 1985.
That the possession of the suit land along with other land
in this area has been handed over to the Delhi
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Development Authority after removal of the

engrossments. The petitioners are no more in possession
of the land in suit.
That the land in suit belongs to the Government of India
(MOR) and has been transferred to the answering
Respondent by the Ministry of Rehabilitation under a
package deal vide Government letter No.4(19)/78/….-II
(Vol….) dated 2.09.82 and the possession has been
handed over to the DDA by the Ministry of
Rehabilitation on 09.08.85 after removal of the
encroachment.”

6. The said writ petition was listed for hearing in 2002. Appellants were

taking adjournments. The writ petition was ultimately dismissed for default on

11.2.2005.

7. An application for restoration was filed, in support whereof one Shri

Sanjeev Singh affirmed an affidavit, stating :

“That I am the duly constituted power of attorney of the

original petitioners, namely, Shri Najmuddin, Shri
Mohiuddin and Shri Wahabuddin, all sons of Late Mohd.
Sheruddin and residents of House No.226 village –
Hauzrai (Near Malviya Nagar), New Delhi 110017 and
as such competent to swear this affidavit.”

8. As an affidavit in support of the said application for restoration was not

affirmed by any of the appellants, the power of attorney in terms whereof the said

deponent claimed himself to be entitled to affirm an affidavit on their behalf was

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directed to be filed pursuant whereto a General Power of Attorney dated 24.9.1985

executed by appellant, wherein it was stated as under :

“25. And we do hereby declare that by virtue of

agreement to sell executed between us and the said (1)
Sh. Sanjiv Singh, (2) Sh. Noordesh Singh both sons of
Sh. Pal singh and (3) Smt. Pushpa Devi w/o Sh. Pal
Singh all r/o house No.A-26, Ring Road, Lajpat Nagar-
IV, New Delhi 110 024, whereunder we have received a
sum of Rs.1,50,000/- (Rupees one lac fifty thousand
only) as per receipts duly signed and executed by us in
full and final consideration amount of the aforesaid land,
the possession of which is already with the said persons
for the last so many years, thus this deed of General
Power of Attorney is for valuable consideration and as
such its irrevocable and shall always remain irrevocable.
We shall not cancel or withdraw the powers given under
this deed of General Power of Attorney, under any
circumstances whatsoever.”

9. In an affidavit affirmed on 30.3.2006, the Appellant No.1 stated :

“That my other two brothers namely i.e. Mohiuddin,

Wahabuddin are the co-owners along with me in land in
question and both of them frequently go on visits with
respect to their works i.e. Rajmistri and presently they
are at Gwalior and since I am an old man and unable to
look after the instant litigation, we had appointed Shri
Sanjeev Singh to look after the litigation of the instant
case.
That there was an intention and likelihood to sell off the
land in question but, however, I have never sold off the
land in question in any manner whatsoever.”
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10. By reason of the impugned judgment, the application for restoration was

dismissed, holding :

(1) Appellants, having transferred their land in terms of the said power of

attorney, were in effect pursuing a proxy litigation on behalf of some other

persons.

(2) A third party right having been created without permission of the court, they

were not entitled to any indulgence of the Court.

(3) In view of the averments made in paragraph 25 of the General Power of

Attorney dated 24.9.1985, it is evident that appellants have sold away their

interest in the property.

(4) The averments made in the affidavit affirmed by the appellant No.1 are by

way of an afterthought and does not clearly rule out the impact of clause 25

of the power of attorney.

It was furthermore held :

“In any event, we heard the submissions of Mr. Harish

Malhotra, learned senior counsel for the petitioners. The
challenge in the writ petition is to a notification dated 7th
May, 1962 Mr. Malhotra was unable to give any
satisfactory explanation as to why the present writ
petition filed on 2.8.1985 should not be dismissed on the
ground of laches alone. Further in the counter affidavit
filed by the DDA, it was pointed out that the petitioners
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had filed a suit against the DDA in respect of the same

land and a stay order obtained in the said proceedings
stood vacated. Following this the possession of the land
in question was handed over to the DDA. It was pointed
out that the petitioner were no longer in possession of the
said land. Mr. Malhotra was unable to explain why these
facts had been suppressed in the writ petition. He also
fairly stated that no rejoinder had been filed denying
these submissions in the counter affidavit.
Mr. Malhotra attempted to point out that the acquisition
of the land in question under Section 3 of the
Resettlement of Displaced Persons (Land Acquisition)
Act, 1948 was wholly illegal because no notice as
contemplated under Section 4 of the Act was served on
the petitioners. In our view this plea no longer is
available to be urged by the petitioners 23 years after the
notification, particularly considering the fact that the
original notification was issued on 16th September, 1948
and the impugned notification on 7th May, 1962. Clearly,
the challenge is barred by laches.”

11. Mr. Mukul Rohtagi, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the

appellant, would, inter alia, contend :

(1) The High Court committed a serious error in passing the impugned

judgment in so far as it failed to take into consideration that the appellants

had been pursuing their remedies in the writ application bona fide.

(2) While considering an application for restoration of the writ petition, the

High Court should not have considered the merit of the writ petition itself.
 9

(3) In any event, the writ petition having not been disposed of on merit, the

same should be directed to be heard on merit on such terms as the court may

think fit and proper.

12. Mr. Krishna Kumar, learned counsel appearing on behalf of Delhi

Administration and Mr. Saharya, learned counsel appearing on behalf of DDA, on

the other hand, supported the impugned judgment.

13. The Writ Petition was dismissed for default, as noticed hereinbefore, by an

order dated 11.2.2005. For reasons best known to the appellants they have not

filed a copy of the said order. When a writ petition is dismissed for default,

indisputably, the High Court may restore the same in exercise of its jurisdiction

under Article 226 of the Constitution of India itself and/or in exercise of its

inherent power. For the purpose of passing such order conduct of the parties

would be a relevant factor. Appellants filed a writ application, inter alia, on the

premise that they had no knowledge of the purported notification issued by the

Delhi Administration which was issued as far back as in 1962.

It was contended even before us that the appellants did not receive any

amount of compensation. Appellants do not deny or dispute that the power of

attorney in favour of Sanjeev Singh and others was executed. It also stands

admitted that the same has not been revoked. The very basis on which the writ
 10

petition was filed was their purported continuous possession of the land in

question. In the writ petition, no averment had been made as regards institution of

a suit but in the list of dates, it has been mentioned that an interim order had been

passed in the suit. However, from the impugned judgment, now it transpires that

the said interim order was vacated and only thereafter the suit was withdrawn and

the writ petition was filed.

14. It is true that in the writ petition, an interim order was passed in their favour.

It, however, now transpires that an Arbitrator appointed under the

Rehabilitation Act had made an award on or about 7.5.1962 in respect of one-third

share of Md. Sherruddin for Plot No.334/206 and one-eighteenth share of Plot

No.404/315, 405/315, 402/315, 403/315, 316/227, 317/227 and 318/227 at the rate

of Rs.322 per bigha plus interest at the rate of 4 per cent per annum. An ex gratia

amount was also directed to be paid from the date of taking over of possession.

Appellants were, thus, merely co-sharers. They have not stated that there

had been a partition amongst the co-sharers or they were in possession of a part of

the lands appertaining to the aforementioned Khasras.

15. It appears from the records that on or about 8.10.1991, an application was

filed to make the order of stay dated 30.8.1985 absolute and allow the appellant to

deal freely with his one-third share of the land in any manner he liked. Therein
 11

also appellants claimed themselves to be owner in possession of the lands in

question. The General Power of Attorney executed by the appellants on 24.9.1985

evidently was an irrevocable one. By reason thereof, all the powers of the owners

were delegated; clause (4) whereof reads as under :

“To submit and file all kinds of applications, petitions,

affidavits, written statements, suits, writs in any court of
law or in the High Court or in the Supreme Court or
before Revenue Courts in respect of the above said land
and pursue all matters, writs, suits, applications, petitions
pending before any court of law or any Government
office or authority in respect of the said land.”

16. Despite the same, in his affidavit filed on 13.03.2006, appellant No.1 stated

that he never intended to sell the property in favour of the said Sanjeev Singh and

others. If the said constituted attorney had been in possession of the property in

question for a long time, as has been averred in paragraph 25 of the General Power

of Attorney, evidently the appellant had not been in possession thereof and

consequently, the story that they came to know about the said notification issued

in the year 1962 cannot be accepted as correct. As the constituted attorney of

appellants had been in physical possession of the property and had been pursuing

the writ petition before the High Court, the averments made in the subsequent

affidavits cannot be accepted as correct. Even the said stand taken by the
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appellant No.1 cannot be accepted in view of Section 91 of the Indian Evidence

Act.

17. The High Court, therefore, in our opinion, cannot be said to have committed

any error in refusing to exercise its discretionary jurisdiction in favour of

appellants. The impugned order, therefore, does not warrant any interference by

us in exercise of our discretionary jurisdiction under Article 136 of the

Constitution of India.

18. The appeal is, therefore, dismissed with costs. Counsel’s fee assessed at

Rs.50,000/-.

……………………….J.

(S.B. Sinha)

……………………….J.

(Cyriac Joseph)

New Delhi;

December 18, 2008