The Hindu : New Delhi News : Land can be acquired to serve public good, rules apex court

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Sunday, Sep 07, 2008
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Land can be acquired to serve public good, rules apex court

J. Venkatesan

New Delhi: Acquisition of land by a State government for development of a project to serve the larger public good would be legal and valid, the Supreme Court has held.

A Bench of Justice C.K. Thakker and Justice D.K. Jain said that “in case of integrated and indivisible project, the project has to be taken as a whole and must be judged whether it is in the larger public interest. It cannot be split into different components and to consider whether each and every component will serve public good. A holistic approach has to be adopted in such matters.”

Writing the judgment, Mr. Justice Thakker said, “If the project taken as a whole is an attempt in the direction of bringing foreign exchange, generating employment opportunities and securing economic benefits to the State and the public at large, it will serve public purpose.”

The Bench said, “It is primarily for the State to decide whether there exists public purpose or not. Undoubtedly, the decision of the State is not beyond judicial scrutiny. In appropriate cases, where such power is exercised mala fide or for collateral purposes or the purported action is dehors the Act, irrational or otherwise unreasonable or the so-called purpose is ‘no public purpose’ at all, a writ court can undoubtedly interfere. But except in such cases, the declaration of the government is not subject to judicial review.”

Infrastructure project

The Bench said, “In other words, a writ court, while exercising powers under Articles 32, 226 or 136 of the Constitution, cannot substitute its own judgment for the judgment of the government as to what constitutes public purpose.”

In the instant case the Andhra Pradesh government acquired land in 2002 on the suburbs of Hyderabad for an infrastructure development project to be implemented through a joint venture mechanism. The Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed petitions from land owners challenging the acquisition. The present appeals are directed against this judgment.

Dismissing the appeals, the Bench said, “In this case, it cannot be said that the proceedings initiated by the State for acquisition of land are illegal, unlawful, unwarranted, mala fide, fraud on the statute or have been taken in colourable exercise of power.”

The Bench said that the State decided to establish an integrated project which would make Hyderabad a major business-cum-leisure tourism infrastructure centre for the State. The project would facilitate socio-economic progress of the State by generating revenues, weeding out unemployment and bringing in new avenues and opportunities for the public at large. The Bench held that there was no infirmity in the action of the State in initiating acquisition proceedings for the project and the High Court was right in dismissing the petitions.

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