Gujarat High Court
Dharasana Group Co Op Salt Producers And ... vs Union Of India & 2 on 16 September, 2014
Author: K.M.Thaker
Bench: K.M.Thaker
C/SCA/12819/2014 ORDER
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 12819 of 2014
============================================================
====
DHARASANA GROUP CO OP SALT PRODUCERS AND SALE SOCIETY LTD
& 1....Petitioner(s)
Versus
UNION OF INDIA & 2....Respondent(s)
================================================================
Appearance:
MR SUNIL C PATEL, ADVOCATE for the Petitioner(s) No. 1 - 2
MR DEVANG VYAS, ADVOCATE for the Respondent(s) No. 1
================================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE K.M.THAKER
Date : 16/09/2014
ORAL ORDER
1. Heard Mr.B.A.Desai, learned Senior Counsel with Mr.Manmohan Rao, learned advocate and Mr.Sunil Patel, learned advocate for the petitioners and Mr.Devang Vyas, Assistant Solicitor General of India for the respondent who has appeared on advance service of copy of the petition.
2. The petitioners have averred that:-
" 3. The Petitioner No.1 and its members, are engaged in actual production of salt and they are known as " AGARIYAS" In reality, they are salt workers and they own small plots of land. Farming of Salt is their main occupation. The forefathers of the Petitioners were the owners and in possession of their respective salt land from time immemorial and the present members of the Page 1 of 8 C/SCA/12819/2014 ORDER Petitioners inherited the land from forefathers, who were manufacturing the the salt from their own Plot.
4. The Petitioners submit that it is in undisputable that the Petitioners were manufacturing salt on their own plot as owners. In Chharwada salt production is going on since time immemorial.
13. Each member of the society is the owner of the plot which he is cultivating and therefore Chharwada Co- operative Society is a society of plot owners, who are salt manufacturers.
14. In spite of the fact that the salt manufacturers - owners of the plot in the year 1974 taking advantage of the illiteracy and ignorance of the salt manufactures of Chharwada, Mr.B.C. Roy, the then Salt Commissioner forcibly pressurized the society and its members to execute a Lease Deed with Central Government for manufacturing of salt and threatened the members not to allow salt manufacturing, if Lead Deed was not executed with Central Government and the Sale Commissioner forcibly entered into a Lease Deed with the Society for 20 years upto 1994 and under this Agreement, Salt Commissioner imposed rent and the assignment fee on the production and the imposed ground rent at the rate of Rs.2/- per acre.
15. The Petitioners submit that by this Lease Deed, the Government of India forcibly, illegally and in violation of the Indian Constitution and without any statutory authority converted the members of the Petitioners' Society from Owners to Lessee and also levied illegal assignment levy and also illegally levied the alleged rent without any statutory or constitutional approval. It is submitted that the Respondent No.1 has no authority of law to convert the owners into lessee and it is submitted that the Petitioner No.1 and its members are the owners since time immemorial and continued to be owners and the said lease of 1974 and the subsequent Lessee of 1996 are illegal, void and abinitio and non-est. in the eyes of law.
16. The Petitioners submit that this is a fit case where this Hon'ble Court should declare the said Lease Deed as null and void. In the circumstances, the Petitioners Page 2 of 8 C/SCA/12819/2014 ORDER submit that they are the owners of the plot of land and they are protected by the Article 300A of the Constitution of India and they are also protected under Article 19 of the Constitution of India, as they are entitled to carry on the production of salt in the respective plots of owners and the Respondents have no right or authority to levy assignment levy or rent.
21. As stated above, the said Lease Deed at Exhibit "A" dated 31st August, 1996 between the President of India and the Petitioenrs. By the said Lease Deed, the Pettiioenrs were to play assignment fee at the rate of Re.1/- per M.T. per annum of Salt on the quantity of salt produced and issued by the Lessee subject to the minimum production fixed at 20 Ton per Acre. Further, they were required to pay ground rent at the rate of Rs.2/- per acre(Rupees two only). The said Lease Deed was for a period of 20 years commencing from 1st October, 1994 to 30th September, 2014 and renewal for a further period of 20 yeas on such terms and conditions as the Lessor may prescribed from time to time.
25. Instead of considering the griebance of the Pettioners' members against the unilateral increase in both the rent and assignment levy as illegally done by the said Exhibit "B" dated 27 th January, 2004. The Respondent No.1, i.e. the Ministry of Commerce, Department of Industrial Development and Promotion unilaterally carried out drastic revision from increasing the minimum production limit up to 30 M.T. per Acre and the ground rent from Rs.2/- to Rs.120/- per acre retrospectively from 1st January, 2013. The said order of Exhibit "C" is highly unjust and illegal and violation of rules and natural justice and unreasonable and arbitrary particular in respect of the Petitioners Society.
25. The Petitioners further say that the Petitioners' lease is coming to an end in 2014. In this connection, the Petitioners reference to clause 2(g) of Exhibit C " "
provides as follows:-
"..........(2)(g) In cases where the land has been allotted in lease by inviting tenders the highest bid accepted for payment of assignment fee was less than Rs.100/- per M.T., the lessee will continue to pay the assignment fee during the remaining period of lease as per respective highest bid......"Page 3 of 8 C/SCA/12819/2014 ORDER
" .........2(f) In cases where the highest tender .
rate of assignment fee being more than R.100/-, the Lessee shall pay the tendered rate......."
26. The Petitioners state that they are apprehensive not being satisfied demanding extortionate rent and assignment fee and since the lease period is expiring on 30th September, 2014, the Respondents are likely to not to renew the lease and invite the tender for the lease and are likely to seize land from the Petitioners and handed over to highest bidder, who would naturally be some industrialist or capitalist with great resources. The Petitioners state that the extortionate increase in the rent and assignment fee is a ruse and a stratagem to deprive the Petitioners of extensive land admeasuring approximately 710 acres and hand it over to rich persons and deprive the poor AGARIYAS, who hold their land from time immemorial and render them destitute and jobless and even induce them to commit suicide due to starvation of themselves and their families.
31. The Petitioners say that it is impossible for the Petitioners members to pay such excessive rent and the said Lease Deed and the said extortion demand of rent and assignment levy and the threat of calling for commercial tenders and depriving the Petitioners also members of their livelihood is in violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India and therefore the Petitioners approach this Hon'ble Court in exercise of its Writ Jurisdiction under Article 21."
3. At the time of hearing, learned Senior Counsel has placed on record a copy of the notice dated 12.09.2014, which is said to have been served to the petitioners after the petition was submitted.
4. According to the said notice, respondents Page 4 of 8 C/SCA/12819/2014 ORDER have refused to consider and grant petitioners' request for removal of the lease, which has been in operation since 1996, and its tenure will expire on 30.09.2014.
5. Learned Senior Counsel relied on the decisions in the case of Union of India & Anr Versus M/s. Mundra Salt & Chemical Industries and ors, reported in (2001) 1 SCC 222, in the case of Food Corporation of India and Anr. Versus SEIL Ltd. and Ors, reported in (2008) 3 SCC 440 and in the case of Union of India through the Deputy Salt Commissioner and Others Vs. Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hasan Raiba & Ors, passed in First Appeal No.505 of 1994 on 13.12.2007.
6. The notice dated 12.09.2014, which is tendered on record at the time of hearing reads thus:-
W " hereas, the land admeasuring 800 acres situated at Dharasana/Umarsadi/Chharwada & Bhagal villages under S.Nos.57, 56, 66, 67, 528, 599, 1 & 409 and unsurveyed portion of creek of Valsad District belongs to the Government of India was allotted in favour of the Dharasana Group Co-operative Salt Producer and Sale Page 5 of 8 C/SCA/12819/2014 ORDER Society Ltd., Dharasana and the Society executed a Lease Agreement with the Salt Department, Government of India on 31.08.1996, continuing the lease period for further period of 20 years from 01.10.1994 to 30.09.2014.
Now the lease in respect of the above said land is going to expire on 30.09.2014. In this connection please refer to your letter dated 08.05.2014 requesting therein to renew the lease of further period of 20 years, but according to the present procedure, no renewal of lease will be be done and as such your request cannot be acceeeded. A copy of the statutory orders and notification issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in the Gazette of India under S.O.No.2301 dated 09.10.2013 is enclosed herewith for your information.
In view of the above, I. Dr.J.P.Mishra, I/C Deputy Salt Commissioner, Ahmedabad on behalf of the President of India hereby ask the Secretary, the Dharasana Group Co.Op.Salt Producers and Sale Society Ltd. Dharasana to handover the vacant possession of the land admeasuring 800 acres to the inspector of Salt, Dharasana on 30.09.2014 (AN) positively."
7. Leave to amend the petition so as to place on record a copy of the said notice dated 12.09.2014 and to appropriately amend Paragraph No.41 is granted. Amendment to be carried out forthwith.
8. After the amendment is carried out, ISSUE NOTICE and NOTICE AS TO INTERIM RELIEF returnable on 25.09.2014.
9. In addition to normal mode of service, Direct Page 6 of 8 C/SCA/12819/2014 ORDER service is permitted. In the meanwhile, having regard to the submission that the Notice is, in effect and insubstance, order having effect of terminating lease without assigning reason and without mentioning the procedure - casually referred to in the said notice - and since the respondent needs time to file reply to the petition, by way of ad-interim relief, operation of the impugned notice dated 12.09.2014 is stayed until the returnable date and both sides shall maintain status-quo with regard land in question until the returnable date i.e. 25.09.2014. Having regard to the fact that period of lease is going to come to an end on 30.09.2014, the ad-interim relief is granted until day anterior to last day of tenure of lease and Notice is also made returnable on same day.
10. The respondents shall file an appropriate affidavit on or before the returnable date.
Page 7 of 8 C/SCA/12819/2014 ORDER(K.M.THAKER, J.) Girish Page 8 of 8