judgement:
Civil Appeal Nos.
1866 68 of l988.
PG NO 861 From the Judgment and Order dated 25.7.1986 of the Allahabad High Court in C.M.W.P. Nos. 149, l5l and 172 of 1976.
R.C. Misra, B.B. Singh for the Appellant.
R.K. Jain, R.K. Khanna and R.P. Singh for the Respondents.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by OZA, J.
These appeals have been filed by the U.P. Bhooden Yagna Samiti, Kanpur against the judgment of the High Court of Allahabad delivered in Misc.
Writ Petition No. 149/76, 151/76 and 172/76.
By the impugned order the High Court quashed the Order passed By Additional Collector, Kanpur dated 1.1.76 quashing the Pattas granted in favour of the respondent.
In the month of April and May, 1968 the Petitioner before the High Court i.e. present respondent obtained grant under Sec.
l4 of the U.P. Bhoodan Yagna Act in respect of various plots of land situated in Village Jahangirabad Paragana Ghatampur, District Kanpur from Bhoodan Yagna Samiti on 17.5.1972.
Tehsildar Ghatampur submitted a report to Collector.
kanpur and on the basis thereof the Additional Collector, Kanpur issued notices to these respondents under Sections of the U.P. Bhoodan Yagna Act requiring them to how as to why the settlement obtained by them be not cancelled On following grounds: (i) As the petitioners did not reside in the village where the plots were situated they had obtained the grant fraudulently and by misrepresenting facts.
(ii) As the petitioners did not fall in the category of land less persons it was not proper to make the grant in their favour.
(iii) The grants had not been approved by the Government of U.P." After considering the objections filed by the respondents.
the Additional Collector came to the conclusion that the Order of the Bhoodan Yagna Samiti settling the land could not be justified as it could only be made in favour of poor landless agricultural labourers and not in favour of persons like the respondents who were quite well off and who reside in the city of Kanpur, owned propery there and carried on business.
In his opinion such persons did not PG NO 862 fall in the category of landless persons as contemplated under the Act and the grants made in their favour in the year 1968 were irregular and liable to be set aside and on the basis of these reasons the Additional Collector by his order dated 1.1.76 quashed all the grants made in favour of the three respondents against which the writ petitions were filed before the High Court of Allahabad and by the impugned judgment, the Division Bench of the High Court quashed the order passed by the Additional Collector and maintained the grants in favour of the respondents and against this order of the High Court by grant of leave the present appeals are before us.
Before the High Court two questions were raised.
First was about the jurisdiction of the Additional Collector as under the Act the duties were cast on the Collector to enquire into these matters and therefore on that ground it was contended before the High Court that Additional Collector has no jurisdiction.
The other ground which was raised before the High Court was that the view taken by the Additional Collector is not in accordance with law.
So far as the first ground is concerned, even the High Court held against the respondents and before us learned counsel for parties conceded that to that part of the High Court Judgment there is no challenge and this now is not in dispute that the Additional Collector has jurisdiction to enquire into the matter and therefore on that ground it is not necessary for us to dilate any more.
We are therefore mainly concerned with as to whether the settlement made by the Bhoodan Yagna Samiti in favour of the respondent was in accordance with law or which was not in accordance with law and therefore Additional Collector was right in setting aside those allotments.
As regards the second question, the facts in this case are not in dispute.
The respondents are businessmen residing in Kanpur.
It is not in dispute that they have their trade in Kanpur and have properties also and are income tax payers.
It is also not in dispute that they are not agriculturists and they had at the time of allotment nothing to do with agriculture.
Apart from it their source of livelihood was not agriculture at all but trade and business.
It is also not in dispute that they did not fall into any of the categories of persons depending on agriculture who did not have land in their name.
On this ground, it was contended before the Additional Collector that in fact the allotment was obtained by the respondents PG NO 863 by misrepresenting that they are landless persons and on the basis of this the allotments were made which could not be justified.
Before the High Court it was contended that Sec.
14 of the U.P. Bhoodan Yagna Act which provides for allotment of land only talks of landless persons.
14 as it stood in the year 1968 enabled the Samiti to settle the land vested in it with landless persons.
Section neither specifies that such landless persons should also be agricultural labourers nor it provided that they have to be residents of a place in which the concerned lands were located.
It was also not provided that the persons must be such whose source of livelihood is agriculture.
The High Court on the basis of its earlier decision felt that Section 14 as it stood in 1968 did not provide any one of these qualifying clauses and therefore the respondents who admittedly had no land in that village and the district, they were covered by the definition of landless persons, in spite of the fact that they may be traders and paying income tax, may have properties in the City of Kanpur, still the learned Judges of the High Court felt that they fell within the ambit of the definition of landless persons as it stood in 1968 and therefore settlement made in their favour was justified.
High Court relied on Sec.
14 as it stood in 1968.
It reads: "Grant of land to landless persons The Committee or such other authority or person as the Committee may, with the approval of the State Government specify either generally or in respect of any area, may in the manner prescribed, grant lands which have vested in it to the landless persons, and the grantee of the land shall (i) where the land is situate in any estate which has vested in the State Government under and in accordance with Section 4 of the U.P. Zamindari Land Abolition and Reforms Act, 1950, enquire in such land the rights and the liabilities of a sirdar, and (ii) where it is situate in any other area, acquire therein such rights and liabilities and subject to such conditions, restrictions and limitations as may be prescribed and the same shall have effect, any law to the contrary notwith standing.
It is not disputed that these allotments were made in accordance with Sec.
14 but had not been approved by the Government and it was even before that the Additional PG NO 864 Collector took notice of the complaint and issued notice to the respondents and on the basis of his enquiry he cancelled the allotments made in their favour by the Order in 1976 which has been quashed by the High Court.
It was contended by learned counsel appearing for the petitioner (Bhoodan Yagna Samiti) that although Sec.
14 quoted above does not clearly indicate what the law meant by landless persons but in view of the scheme of Bhooden Yagna the movement which Acharya Vinoba Bhave and later Jaya Prakash Narain carried out and the purpose of the movement clearly indicated that when in Sec.
14 allotment was contemplated in favour of landless persons it only meant those landless persons whose main source of livelihood was agriculture and who were agriculturists residing in the village where the land is situated and who has no land in their name at that time.
It never meant that all those rich persons who are residing in the cities and have properties in their possession but who are technically landless persons as they did not have any agricultural land in their name in the tehsil or the village where the land was situated or acquired by the Bhoodan Samiti that it could be allotted in their favour.
This was not the purpose or the philosophy of Bhoodan Yagna and therefore it was contended that such a view which has been taken by the learned Judges of the High Court is contrary to law and the interpretation put by the High Court on the language of Sec 14 could not be justified.
It was contended that landless person has to be interpreted in the background of the law which was enacted and the movement and the philosophy behind the movement which was the basis of the enactment of this law and it is only in that background that these words landless persons could be properly interpreted.
It was also contended that if there was any doubt left.
15 makes the things still clearer.
15 reads: Grants to be made in accordance with Bhoodan Yagna Scheme All grants shall be made as far as may be in accordance with scheme of the Bhoodan Yagna.
15 provides that all grants shall be made so far as may be in accordance with the scheme of the Bhoodan Yagna, and it could not be disputed that Bhoodan Yagna scheme only contemplated allotment of lands in favour of those landless agricultural labourers who were residing in the villages concerned and whose source of livlihood was agriculture and who were landless and in that context only the landless person could be understood as contemplated PG NO 865 under Sec.
It appears that in 1975 by an amendment in place of landless persons in Sec.
14 landless agricultural labourers was substituted and the objects and reasons when this Amendment Bill was moved, clearly go to show that it was because of such errors committed that it became necessary to make this amendment.
The Objects and Reasons of the Uttar Pradesh Bhoodan Yagna (Amendment) Act, 1975 reads: Prefatory Note Statement of Objects and Reasons The Uttar Pradesh Bhoodan Yagna Act, 1952 provides for distribution of Bhoodan land to the landless persons by the Uttar Pradesh Bhoodan Samiti.
It has come to the notice of Government that in certain cases persons other than land less persons have also received by fraud the land donated under the said Act.
It has also come to the notice of Government that in many cases, for various reasons, the land vested in the Committee is not actually distributed.
It has, therefore, been considered necessary to empower the Collector to cancel the grants received by misrepresentation or fraud, and further, where the committee does not grant the land within a period of three years to authorise him to distribute the land according to the provisions of the Act.
By this Amendment Act in Sec.
14 in place of landless person landless agricultural labourers was substituted, and this clearly shows that it became necessary only because such errors were committed in under standing the meaning of words landless persons .
The rule of interpretation which had been generally accepted in later part of 19th century and the first half of 20th century was that the word should be given its plain ordinary dictionary meaning and it is clear that learned Judges of the High Court in the impugned judgment interpreted the words landless persons on that basis and in so doing they followed their earlier judgment.
But if the scheme of Bhoodan Yagna which has to be looked into because of Sec.
l5 has been looked into or the purpose of the movement of Bhoodan Yagna which was started by late Acharya Vinoba Bhave and followed by Shri Jaya Prakash Narain was understood, this interpretation would not have been possible.
In India we have yet another problem.
The movement and the problems which are debated at all levels is not in the language in which ultimately the law to meet those PG NO 866 situations was enacted.
The Bhoodan Yagna movement used generally a term Bhoomihin Kissan and it is this term which gained momentum and virtually was understood to mean those agricultural labourers whose main source of livlihood is agriculture but Who have no lands of their own or who have no lands (agricultural) recorded in their names in the revenue record and it is this problem of Bhoomihin Kissan that this movement went on to to settle and this Act was enacted to remedy that problem but our draftsman while drafting the law borrowed the phrase landless person in place of Bhoomihin Kissan and this unfortunately led to the present interpretation put by the High Court in the impugned judgment as the High Court followed the rule of interpretation which in my opinion has become obsolete.
At the time when Acharya Vinoba Bhave started his movement of Bhoodan Yagna our rural society had a peculiar diversity.
There were some who owned or had leasehold rights in vast tracks of agricultural lands whereas on the other hand there were those who were working on agriculture as labourers in the fields and depending on what little they got from their masters.
Sometimes they were even bound down to their masters and therefore had to lead miserable life.
It was this problem in rural India which attracted the attention of Acharya Vinoba Bhave followed by Shri Jaya Prakash Narain and they secured large donations of land from big land holders and the scheme of the Bhoodan Yagna movement was to distribute this land to those Bhoomihin Kissan who were living on agriculture but had no land of their own and it was to make this effective and statutory that this law was enacted and in this context it is clear that if one had noticed even the slogan of the Acharya Vinoba Bhave s movement or its basis and the purpose it would have clearly indicated the problem which was to be remedied by this enactment and if this was looked into for the purpose of interpretation of the term landless persons no Court could have come to the conclusion which has been arrived at in the impugned judgment.
In this country we have a heritage of rich literature, it is interesting to note that literature of interpretation also is very well known.
The principles of interpretation have been enunciated in various Shlokas which have been known for hundreds of years.
One such Shlok (Verse) which describes these principles with great precision is: "UPKRAMOP SANHARO ABHYASO UPPURWATA PG NO 867 FALAM ARTHWADOPPATTI CH LINGAM TATPARYA NIRNAYE" This in short means that when you have to draw the conclusion from a writing you have to read it from beginning till end.
As without doing it, it is difficult to understand the purpose, if there is any repetition or emphasis its meaning must be understood.
If there is any curiosity or a curious problem tackled it should be noticed and the result thereof must be understood.
If there is any new innovation (Uppurwatta) or something new it should be taken note of.
Then one must notice the result of such innovation.
Then it is necessary to find what the author intends to convey and in what context.
This principle of interpretation was not enunciated only for interpretation of law but it was enunciated for interpretating any piece of literature and it meant that when you have to give meaning to anything in writing then you must understand the real meaning.
You can only understand the real meaning by understanding the reference, context, the circumstances in which it was stated and the problems or the situations which were intended to be met by what was said and it is only when you take into consideration all this background, circumstances and the problems which have to be tackled that you could really understand the real meaning of the words.
This exactly is the principle which deserves to be considered.
When we are dealing with the phrase landless persons these words are from English language and therefore I am reminded of what Lord Denning said about it.
Lord Denning in The Discipline of Law at Page No. 12 observed as under: Whenever a statute comes up for consideration it must be remembered that it is not within human powers to foresee the manifold sets of facts which may arise, and, even if it were, it is not possible to provide for them in terms free from all ambiguity.
The English language is not an instrument of mathematical precision.
Our literature would be much the poorer if it were.
This is where the draftsmen of Acts of Parliament have often been unfairly criticized.
A Judge, believing himself to be fettered by the supposed rule that he must look to the language and nothing else, laments that the draftsmen have not provided for this or that, or have been guilty of some or other ambiguity.
It would certainly save the judges trouble if Acts of Parliament were PG NO 868 drafted with divine prescience and perfect clarity.
In the absence of it, when a defect appears a judge cannot simply fold his hands and blame the draftsmen.
He must set to work on the constructive task of finding the intention of Parliament.
And it is clear that when one has to look to the intention of the Legislature, one has to look to the circumstances under which the law was enacted.
The Preamble of the law, the mischief which was intended to be remedied by the enactment of the statute and in this context, Lord Denning, in the same book at Page No. 10, observed as under: At one time the Judges used to limit themselves to the bare reading of the Statute itself to go simply by the words, giving them their grammatical meaning and that was all.
That view was prevalent in the l9th century and still has some supporters today.
But it is wrong in principle.
The Statute as it appears to those who have to obey it and to those who have to advise them what to do about it; in short, to lawyers like yourselves.
Now the eccentrics cut off from all that is happening around them.
The Statute comes to them as men of affairs who have their own feeling for the meaning of the words and know the reason why the Act was passed just as if it had been fully set out in a preamble.
So it has been held very rightly that you can enquire into the mischief which gave rise to the Statute to see what was the evil which it was sought to remedy.
" It is now well settled that in order to interpret a law one must under stand the background and the purpose for which the law was enacted.
And in this context as indicated earlier if one has bothered to under stand the common phrase used in the Bhoodan Movement as Bhoomihin Kissan which has been translated into English to mean landless persons there would have been no difficulty but apart from it even as contended by learned counsel that it was clearly indicated by Sec. 15 that the allotments could only be made in accordance with the scheme of Bhoodan Yagna.
In order to understand the scheme of Bhoodan and the movement of Shri Vinoba Bhave, it would be worthwhile to quote from Vinoba And His Mission by Suresh Ram printed with an introduction by Shri Jaya Prakash Narain and foreword by Dr. section RadhaKrishnan.
In this work, statement of annual Sarvodya Conference at Sevapuri has been quoted as under: PG NO 869 The fundamental principle of the Bhoodan Yagna movement is that all children of the soil have an equal right over the Mother Earth, in the same way as those born of a mother have over her.
It is, therefore, essential that the entire land of the country should be equitably redistributed anew, providing roughly at least five acres of dry land or one acre of wet land to every family.
The Sarvodaya Samaj, by appealing to the good sense of the people, should prepare their minds for this equitable distribution and acquire within the next two years at least 25 lakhs of acres of land from about five lakhs of our villages on the rough basis of five acres per village.
This land will be distributed to those landless labourers who are versed in agriculture, want to take to it, and have no other means of subsistence. " (Underlining for emphasis by us) This would clearly indicate the purpose of the scheme of Bhoodan Yagna and it is clear that Sec. 15 provided that all allotments in accordance with Sec.
14 could only be done under the scheme of the Bhoodan Yagna.
In the light of the discussion above therefore, the judgment of the High Court could not be maintained.
The appeals are therefore allowed.
The judgment of the High Court is set aside and the orders passed by the Additional Collector are restored.
Appellant shall be entiled to costs of the appeals, counsel fee Rs. l,500 in each of these three appeals.
G.N. Appeals allowed.

summary/full:
The Respondents, in 1968, obtained grant from Bhoodan Yagna Samiti under section 14 of the U.P. Bhoodan Yagna Act, of various plots of land situated in a village in Kanpur.
On the basis of a report submitted by the Tehsildar concerned in 1972, the Additional Collector issued notices to the respondents under the Act, requiring them to show cause as to why the settlement obtained by them should not be cancelled on the grounds, that they did not reside in the village where the plots are situated, that they did not fall under the category of landless persons and that the grants had not been approved by the Government.
After considering the objections filed by the respondents, the Additional Collector quashed all the grants made in favour of the respondents.
Against the order of the Additional Collector, the respondents filed writ petitions in the High Court.
The High Court held that the respondents were covered by the definition landless persons as they had no land in that village and the district, though they may be traders and paying income tax and may have properties in the city of Kanpur, and quashed the order passed by the Additional Collector and maintained the grants in favour of the respondents.
These appeals are against the said order of the High Court.
On behalf of the appellant, it was contended that the expression landless person has to be interpreted in the background of the law and the philosophy behind the movement which was the basis of the enactment of the law.
Allowing these appeals.
HELD: 1.1 It is now well settled that in order to interpret a law one must understand the background and the purpose for which the law was enacted.
If one has bothered PG NO 859 PG NO 860 to understand the common phrase used in the Bhoodan Movement as Bhoomihin Kissan which has been translated into English to mean landless persons there would have been no difficulty.
[868F G] 1.2 At the time when Acharya Vinoba Bhave started his movement of Bhoodan Yagna our rural society had a peculiar diversity.
There were some who owned or had leasehold rights in vast tracks of agricultural lands.
And there were those who were working as labourers in the fields and depending on what little they got from their masters.
Sometimes they were even bound down to their masters and therefore had to lead a miserable life.
It was this problem in rural India which attracted the attention of Acharya Vinoba Bhave followed by Shri Jaya Prakash Narain and they secured large donations of land from big land holders and the scheme of the Bhoodan Yagna movement was to distribute this land to those Bhoomihin Kissan who were living on agriculture but had no land of their own.
It was to make this effective and statutory that this law was enacted and in this context it is clear that if one had noticed even the slogan of the Acharya Vinoba Bhave s movement or its basis and the purpose, it would have clearly indicated the problem which was to be remedied by this enactment and if this was looked into for the purpose of interpretation of the term landless persons no Court could have come to the conclusion which has been arrived at in the instant case.
[866C F] 2.
Section 15 provides that all grants shall be made so far as may be in accordance with the scheme of the Bhoodan Yagna.
It could not be disputed that Bhoodan Yagna scheme only contemplated allotment of lands in favour of those landless agricultural labourers who were residing in the villages concerned and whose source of livelihood was agriculture.
In that context only, the expression landless person could be understood as contemplated under section 14.
section 14 was amended in 1975 to substitute the words landless agricultural labourers in place of `landless persons. ' The objects and reasons contained in the Amendment Bill clearly go to show that it was because of such errors committed that it became necessary to make this amendment.
[864G H; 865A B] Lord dennings 's `The Discipline of law ', pp.
10. 12 and`Vinoba and His Mission 'by Suresh Ram, referred to.


judgement:
Civil Miscellaneous Petitions Nos.
34114 15 of 1987 in S.L.P. Nos.
5678 79 of 1987.
From the Judgment and Order dated 18.8.1987 of this Hon 'ble Court in S.L.P. Nos.
5678 79 of 1987.
Shanti Bhushan, G.L. Sanghi and S.R. Srivastava for the Petitioners.
PG NO 1019 Somnath Chatterjee, Tapas Ray, A.K. Mitra, B.P. Singh, Mrs. Pratibha Jain, S.K. Jain, J.R. Dass and D.K. Sinha for the Respondents.
The following Order of the Court was delivered by SEN, J. By these applications the applicants Calcutta Youth Front and its President Hridayanand Gupta pray for committing for contempt respondents Nos.
3 9 under the , namely: 1.
Kamal Basu, Mayor & Administrator, Calcutta Municipal Corporation; 2.
R.K. Prasannan, Municipal Commissioner; 3.
B.C. Mitra, Municipal Engineer in Chief; 4.
B.K. Roy, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Sr. ); 5.
Sarkar, Chief Municipal Architect & Town Planner; 6.
A.K. Goswami, District Engineer; 7.
Dr. S.K. Chowdhury, Chief Municipal Health Officer, as well as the lessees respondents Nos. 13 and 14 Jugal Kishore Kajaria in his individual capacity as well as as Director, Messrs Happy Homes & Hotels Private Limited.
The applicants alleged that these respondents were guilty of contempt in that they had in breach of the terms and conditions laid down by this Court in its order dated August 18, 1987 in SLPs 5678 79/87 See JT permitted the lessees Messrs Happy Homes & Hotels Pvt. Ltd. to construct an underground airconditioned market at Satyanarayan Park, and that they had connived and acquiesced in permitting the lessees to construct four pucca structures 15 feet in height above the road level partly covering the surface of the Park and covering a major portion of the surface of the Park.
It is alleged that the said constructions constitute gross and deliberate violation of the undertaking of the respondent No. 13 in his supplementary affidavit dated July 25, 1987 and the terms of the Court 's order dated October 18, ]987.
Applicant No. 2 Hridayanand Gupta in his affidavit dated July 14, 1988 placed reliance on the following observations made by this Court in its order: "Under the scheme there would be no construction on the park; the underground market would be under the park and not over the park.
The only difference is that the park would be re located at a height of 6 feet above the road level easily accessible by three separate staircases.
Under the scheme, Satyanarayan Park would become a real park with a lush green garden with tall trees.
shrubs etc.
and a centre for relaxation of the thickly congested Burrabazar locality and in particular for the children as a playground.
" PG NO 1020 It was alleged that the assertion of the contemnors before this Court, as was before the High Court, was that tali trees and/or shrubs would be planted apart from the lush green lawn on the eastern garden under the direct supervision of the Agri Horticultural Society of India, Alipore as per its letter dated July 25, 1987.
This, according to the applicants, was nothing but a hoax.
The applicants allege that the aforesaid respondents have committed deliberate violation of the terms and conditions of this Court 's order by permitting the lessees to construct the aforesaid pucca structures of lofty heights which, apart from the four storeyed building, cover a substantial portion of the surface of the park which would make it literally impossible to have a terrace garden with a lush green lawn with tall trees, shrubs etc.
as a place of relaxation, and therefore liable to be committed for contempt.
They in the meanwhile pray that respondents Nos. 13 and 14, the lessees, be restrained from subletting the underground air conditioned park to anyone in the greater public interest.
These allegations were controverted by the counter affidavit of Jagdish Kanjilal, Deputy Chief Engineer (Design), Planning & Development Department of the Municipal Corporation dated February 10, 1988 and that by the lessees Jugal Kishore Kajaria impleaded as respondents Nos. 13 and 14.
The applicants filed rejoinders to these counter affidavits.
Having carefully gone through the applications for contempt, the counter affidavit of respondents Nos. 13 and 14 and that filed on behalf of the Municipal Corporation, and having regard to the fact that the allegations made in the applications involve controverted facts, we thought it expedient to request Shri Justice Umesh Chandra Banerjee by our order dated April 21, 1988 to hold an enquiry as to whether there was a violation of the judgment and order passed by him, as affirmed in letters patent appeal by the Division Bench and also by this Court and directed him to forward his findings by the second week of July 1988 that direction of ours was not to be construed as meaning that there was a breach of the terms and conditions laid down in the judgment.
It was further directed that the High Court shall not, during the pendency of the enquiry, pass any interim order which would tend to obstruct or delay the completion of the construction work of the underground airconditioned market.
In compliance therewith, Shri Justice Umesh Chandra Banerjee has submitted his report holding that there was no violation of his judgment.
The learned Single Judge not only heard the parties but also took the trouble of personally visiting the park and note his observations on personal inspection.
In the report the learned Judge records his visual impression in the following words: PG NO 1021 "Two open staircases have been provided for an entry onto the park apart from the three other covered entrances which would facilitate entry onto both the Air Conditioned Market as well as to the park.
The covered entrances are more or less at a height of about 15 ' ft.
There are three other units for Air Handling Plants which are also more or less at a height of about 15 ' ft.
On the eastern side there is a storied building and on the top, a built in water reservoir has been erected and atop the built in water reservoir there are existing two huge water cooling tanks.
The 4 storied building admittedly has been constructed in place and stead of a one storied building which was existing prior to the licensing agreement and popularly known as Service Block".
On visual examination it appears that certain plant and machinery along with a switch room are located and housed in the service block." The learned Judge then goes on to add: "On a close look at the entire nature of construction it cannot be said that the area looks totally green with some trees on one side.
shrubs and other small trees all around.
In my judgment dated 17th July 1986 l observed: "Lovely lush green park soothing to the eyes would be visualised since the same would be at a raised level.
Tall trees have already been re planted.
The entire area in question would have a different look.
The sceptics might say that this is too much to expect but optimism prompts judicial conscience to allow such a project so that prospect of having such an area in the heart of a commercial centre in the city of Calcutta is not ruled out".
" The learned Judge expresses satisfaction that his expectations for beautification of the Metropolitan City of Calcutta were not belied, in these words: "It seems that the judicial optimism has paid a rich dividend in this particular case and the entire area in fact is having a decent and sophisticated look.
There was not a blade of grass on the park prior to the licensing agreement.
PG NO 1022 But now a lush green lawn is visible and the place in fact has turned out to be a place for recreation of tax payers place for recreation for the children of the locality and a place to wither away the time for the old and aged people.
" Along with the report he has annexed a photograph which depicts the existing state of Satyanarayan Park which was once a dark, dangerous place frequented by persons with criminal record, has now turned out to be a beauty spot in a thickly congested area like Burrabazar.
It shows that all the work of construction including the covered staircases together with the open staircase, including the four storeyed service block ' is complete.
The photograph depicts the state of affairs as to the shape, size and dimensions of these structures and gives an overall view of the proposed park atop the underground air conditioned market at Satyanarayan Park.
The learned Single Judge accordingly records a finding that by the raising of these constructions, question of committing any contempt of his judgment does not and cannot arise.
We find no justification to come to any different conclusion.
At the hearing Shri Shanti Bhushan.
learned counsel appearing for the applicants was gracious enough to accept that the re location of the park at a height of 8 feet above the road level instead of 6 feet is not a matter of moment because a few inches more or less here or there is hardly of any significance.
He however confined his submissions to two aspects.
namely (i) the raising of the lofty structures over the staircase leading to the underground airconditioned market constitutes a breach of the conditions laid down.
and (ii) the construction of a four storeyed building covering an area of the park is a flagrant violation of the Court s order.
We are afraid.
the contention cannot be accepted.
The so called lofty structures which we may call bunkers are nothing but the covered space over the staircases from three directions leading to the underground market.
The learned counsel perhaps is not right in assuming that the staircases go upwards.
Actually.
the staircases provide an approach to the public to the undergroud airconditioned market and they go downwards.
The staircases would not possibly be kept open and exposed to the sky having regard to the fact that the underground market is centrally airconditioned.
We can take judicial notice of the tact that the central air conditioning plant would not be functional unless there were these bunkers constructed over the staircases.
That is how the staircases are covered at the Palika Bazar in New Delhi.
Furthermore, the bunkers have been constructed according to the architect 's plan duly sanctioned by the Municipal corporation.
PG NO 1023 Shri Somnath Chatterjee, learned counsel for respondents Nos. 13 and 14 rightly draws our attention to the finding of the learned Single Judge indicating that the four storeyed building has been constructed to locate the staff quarters.
Since the underground market is fully air conditioned, it is essential that the maintenance staff should be located in the park itself.
Originally, there was a single storeyed building covering an area of 150 square metres.
The newly constructed four storeyed building now covers only 72 square metres i.e. practically half the area earlier occupied.
The learned Single Judge has also pointed out that in cl.
(3) of the agreement it has been mentioned that the existing fittings and accessories and structures will have to be dismantled and the dismantled materials will be the property of the Municipal Corporation.
(4) provides that prior to the aforesaid demolition of the existing staff quarters and other infra structures like pump room etc.
which are in use, alternative arrangement shall have to be made by the licensee 'for re location of staff quarters and other infra structures elsewhere which are necessary for maintaining the existing service during the construction period and then finally to rehabilitate them in the premises by the licensee.
The agreement further provides that the cost of temporary re location and final rehabilitation shall be borne by the licensee.
The learned counsel pointed out that Shri Justice Umesh Chandra Banerjee in his judgment has also made a mention of overhead water tanks.
It has been recorded therein as follows: "In any event.
the scheme has been approved by the West Bengal Fire Service since adequate provisions have been made for supply of water in case of necessity.
55000 gallons of water will be available at the park, once the scheme is implemented.
Apart therefrom, a further 38000 gallons of water will be available at the Lily Pool and 17000 gallons of water at the overhead water tanks In the premises my judgment records therefore: (a) that there be some structures atop the underground market, and (b) that there would also be overhead tanks with the storage facility of about 17000 gallons of water.
Question of there being an overhead tank would not arise unless there are constructions atop the underground market.
PG NO 1024 The other aspect of the matter which ought also to be noticed is that the licensing agreement itself provides for approval of the drawing and design by the licensor and in fact drawings and designs as appears from the records were approved and constructions were effected as per the plan sanctioned by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation in accordance with the Building Rules.
There is no dispute as to the factum of such a construction being made in accordance with the sanctioned plan." Shri Chatterjee further drew our attention to paragraph of the judgment delivered by the Division Bench wherein it has been stated: "After demolishing the old structures the trust had laid a public park commonly known as Satyanarayan Park having approximately an area of 20,000 sq.
The Calcutta Improvement Trust had made over the said park to the Calcutta Corporation now known as Calcutta .
Municipal Corporation (The Corporation for short) for the purpose of maintenance at its own cost.
This fact also finds mention in the order delivered by this court.
It would appear that the area of the said park initially was about 28 cottahs corresponding to 20,000 square feet.
In the licence it appears that the area mentioned in 2500 square metres equivalent to 26,900 square feet.
As such.
by no stretch of imagination can it he asserted that a substantial portion of the park has been covered by encroachment and the statement that there cannot be a park or a terrace garden as visualised by this Court 's order runs counter to the existing stale of affairs.
To sum up.
the learned Single .judge very rightly and properly addressed himself to the question whether there was a breach of the terms and conditions laid down in his Judgment.
leaving the question open for this Court to determine whether there was any deviation from the conditions set forth by the Division Bench or by this Court in appeal.
We fully concur with the finding and reasoning of the learned Single Judge as also his approach There can be no doubt whatever that there is no breach either of the conditions laid down by this Court or the Division Bench of the High Court.
The construction of the hunkers over the there staircases leading to the underground airconditioned market as well as of the four storeyed building were in the architect 's plan and were expressly permitted in the licence and formed part of the sanctioned plan.
It was therefore present in the mind of all concerned including the Chief Municipal Architect & Town PG NO 1025 Planner as also of the Administrator of the Municipal Corporation while planning th construction of the underground airconditioned market that these structures would be built up.
As already stated, the construction of the bunkers over the three staircases was a matter of absolute necessity to make the central airconditioning plant fully functional.
That is how a fully underground airconditioned market can be conceived, as has been done in the Palika Bazar in Connaught Place, New Delhi.
As regards the four storeyed structure, the construction thereof does not constitute breach of the conditions laid down.
It has already been stated that the four storeyed structure is built to provide residential quarters to the staff and actually now it occupies much lesser space than before.
In the premises, the allegation made by the applicant that the aforesaid structures cover a substantial portion of the surface of the park which cannot now be turned into a terrace garden with a lush green lawn,is wholly unfounded.
We have already mentioned that the area of land covered by structures acquired by the Calcutta Improvement trust for laying of a park in the Burrabazar area was 20,000 square feet whereas the area of the park in question as mentioned in the licence is 26,900 square feet.
These peripheral structures now built are therefore well outside the area of the Satyanarayan Park proper.
The applications for contempt must therefore fail and are dismissed with costs.
We cannot but deprecate the attempts made by the applicants to move the High Court as well as this Court time and again on one pretext or another in a frantic effort to prevent the construction of the underground airconditioned market at Satyanarayan Park which is a part of the beautification scheme of the great metropolitan city of Calcutta by the State Government of West Bengal where a party in opposition is in power, to provide civic amenities to the citizens.
It is fortunate that these attempts by the making of false and vexatious applications to hold up the construction of the underground airconditioned market, the estimated cost of which is about Rs. 4.50 crores, have been frustrated and what was conceived of a development scheme has come to reality.
The work of construction is nearing completion, as is evident from the photograph annexed to the report of the learned Single Judge, and we hope and trust that the underground airconditioned market would be commissioned in the near future, and the terrace garden over the market will provide to the amenities to the people living in the locality as a place for recreation besides playground for the children.
H.S.K. Petitions Dismissed.

dataset_name: IN-Abs

summary/full:
The applicants filed a contempt petition under Contempt of Courts Act against the respondents (some high officers of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation) and the lessees, respondent Nos. 13 and 14, who were given contract for construction alleging that they were guilty of contempt in that they had constructed the underground market in breach of the terms and conditions laid down by this Court in its order dated 18th August, 19X7.
The applicants submitted that the officers had permitted the lessees, to construct an underground air conditioned market at Satyanarayan Park and that they had connived and acquiesced in permitting the lessees to construct four pucca structures of 15 feet in height above the road level partly convering the surface of the park and covering a major portion of the surface of the Park.
They also alleged that the construction of the four storeyed quarters (service block) were also in violation of the conditions.
The respondents controverted these facts.
The matter was referred to the Single Judge of the High Court who had earlier heard the matter and whose decision had been confirmed by a Division Bench of the High Court and by this Court, to hold an enquiry as to whether there was a violation of the judgment and order passed by him The Learned Single Judge personally visited the site and heard the parties.
He submitted his report containing his visual impressions and holding that there was no violation of any directions given by him in his judgment and the question of committing any contempt of the judgment does not and cannot arise, He left the question open for this Court to determine whether there was any derivation from the conditions set forth by the Division Bench order and by this Court, PG NO 1017 PG NO 1018 Rejecting the contentions of the applicants, aggreeing with the findings and reasoning of the Single Judge and dismissing the contempt application, this Court, HELD: There can be no doubt whatever that there is no breach either of the conditions laid down by this Court or the Division Bench of the High Court.
The construction of the so called lofty structures over the staircase leading to the underground market, which we may call bunkers, as well as of the four storeyed building were in the architect 's plan and were expressly permitted in the licence and formed part of the sanctioned plan.
It was therefore present In the mind of all concerned including the Chief Municipal Architect and Town Planner as also of the Administrator of the Municipal Corporation while planning the costruction of the underground air conditioned market that these structures would be built up.
As already stated, the construction of the bunkers over the three staircases was a matter of absolute necessity to make the central air conditioning plant fully functional.
As regards the four storeyed structure, the construction thereof does not constitute a breach of the conditions laid down.
It has already been stated that the four storeyed structure is built to provide residential quarters to the staff and actually now it occupies much lesser space than before.
In the premises, the allegation made by the applicants that the aforesaid structures cover a substantial portion of the surface of the park which cannot now be turned into a terrace garden with a lush green lawn, is fully unfounded.
[1024G H; 1025A C] The Court cannot but deprecate the attempts made by the applicants to move the High Court as well as this Court time and again on one pretext or another in a frantic effort to prevent the construction of the underground air conditioned market at Satyanarayan Park which is a part of the beautification scheme of the great Metropolitan City of Calcutta by the State Government of West Bengal where a party in opposition is in power, to provide civic amenities to the citizens It is fortunate that these attempts have been frustrated and what was conceived of a development scheme has come to a reality.
[1025E G]