Court No. - 4
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 43871 of 2017 Petitioner :- Pramod Kumar Agarwal And 2 Others Respondent :- State Of U.P. And Another Counsel for Petitioner :- Swapnil Kumar Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Bala Krishna Narayana,J. Hon'ble Prakash Padia,J.
Heard Sri Swapnil Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioners and learned standing counsel for the respondent.
Present writ petition has been filed for quashing of demand notices dated 31.3.2017 and 18.5.2017 issued by the District Magistrate, Agra.
The petitioners are private individuals. On 9.1.1917 a lease deed was executed by the Secretary of State of India in favour of one Binod Bihari. After his death his three sons, Gopal Bihari, Sukhdev Bihari and Madan Bihari inherited the leased property. Thereafter the heirs of the aforesaid three persons inherited the said property. It was in the year 1991 that the lease was renewed in favour of all the twelve heirs of the original lease holder. According to the petitioners the lease deed was renewed in three parts and Nazul Department issued map bifurcating the land in three different portions viz Ravi Tavalke and others, Harbans Bihari and others and Brijbansh Bihari and others. Petitioners purchased the lease hold rights from Harbans Bihari and Ravi Tavalke. Total area measuring 7995.37 sq. metre.
On 24.5.2005, the petitioners vide separate applications applied for the free hold right. On 4.3.2014 State Government issued a Government Order regarding free hold of Nazul land. According to the petitioners, his land is not situated on MG Road and is situated on the side road. As plot no.3 in question is a big property and the portion over which he is claiming free hold right is situated on Mauza Nagla Padi which is on 6 metre wide road. It was on 28.12.2016 that Additional District Magistrate (Administration), Agra sought a report from the Assistant Inspector General Registration, Agra in regard to valuation of the land of the petitioners Company as per the circle rate fixed by the District Magistrate. The aforesaid letter dated 28.12.2016 is annexed as Annexure 6 to the writ petition.
On 29.12.2016, Assistant Inspector General Registration, Agra submitted his report to the Additional District Magistrate (Administration) stating that the land of the petitioners are situated on a six metre wide road and the circle rate applicable is Rs.17,600/- per square metre and valuation of the property comes to Rs.15,66,00,400/-. The said report is part of the record and annexed as Annexure 8 to the writ petition.
Thereafter the District Magistrate on 8.2.2017 wrote a letter to the Secretary Housing and Urban Planning seeking direction and guidelines in regard to the free hold application for Nazul plot no.3 measuring 3.88 acres situated at Nagla Padi, Agra. In the said letter it was stated that plot of the petitioners, which was shown as L, E, F, G, N in the site plan was not situated on M.G. road and was part of plot no.3, which was a big plot. The said letter is annexed as Annexure 8 to the writ petition.
By reply dated 21.2.2017, the Joint Secretary Government of U.P. informed the District Magistrate, Agra that the application for free hold of the petitioners was to be decided keeping in mind the report of Assistant Inspector General Registration, Agra and the circle rate so given in the said report. A letter of the Joint Secretary has been appended as Annexure 9 to the writ petition. It was after the letter of the Joint Secretary that respondent no.2 proceeded to issue demand notices of Rs.2,24,27,416/-, 2,24,27,416/- and 2,24,27,416/- to the petitioners on 31.3.2017, and thereafter a revised demand notice for total Rs.2,35,06,912/-, Rs.2,35,06,912/- and Rs.2,35,06,912/- was issued on 18.5.2017 which are under challenge.
Submission of counsel for the petitioners is, that the District Magistrate proceeded to issue demand notices on the basis of circle rate fixed for MG Road, which is Rs.1,00,000/- per square metre and had not proceeded to issue the demand notice for the land in question, on the basis of the report of the Assistant Inspector General Registration who has reported that the circle rate so applicable in the case of the petitioners will be Rs.17,600/- per square metre. He further contended that as the plot in dispute is not situated on the main road i.e. MG Road, as such the circle rate applicable for M.G. Road is not applicable in the present case. As Nazul Plot No.3 is a very big plot situated on two sides of the road and present application for free hold right is for that portion of the land, which is situated at Nagla Padi, which is on 6 metre wide road and the circle rate applicable for the present free hold application is Rs.17,600/- per square metre as given in the report of the Assistant Inspector General Registration, Agra. He further submitted that the District Magistrate in his letter dated 8.2.2017, while seeking direction from the State Government, had himself stated that the land of the petitioners, which was shown as L, E, F, G, M in the site plan was not situated on MG Road, as such the circle rate so applicable for the land situated on MG Road could not be applied by the District Magistrate in issuing demand notice.
Per contra, learned standing counsel appearing for respondents submitted that Nazul plot no.3 is situated on MG Road as well as Nagla Padi. The circle rate for MG Road will be applicable to the entire plot.
Having heard learned counsel for the parties and after perusing record of the case, we find that Nazul plot no.3 is a big plot measuring 3.88 acres (15702 Sq. Metre) and is situated on two roads. It is not in dispute that the petitioners had purchased the portion of the said plot, which is not situated on main MG Road and is situated on the side road. This fact has been clarified by the District Magistrate himself while seeking direction from the State Government through his letter dated 8.2.2017, which is part of the record, in which he had specifically mentioned that site plan showing the plot of the petitioners as L, E, F, G, M is not situated on MG Road. Further, the Joint Secretary, Government of U.P. had directed the District Magistrate on 21.2.2017 to process the free hold application of the petitioners in pursuance of the report of Assistant Inspector General Registration, Agra and the circle rate so suggested by him in his report. As it is evident from the record of respondent no.2 that the land is not situated on MG Road as such the circle rate so fixed for MG Road cannot be applied in the present case. As it is a disputed question of fact whether the plot in question for which application for grant of free hold right has been moved by the petitioners is situated at MG Road or not is to be decided by the District Magistrate.
In view of the above, we quash the impugned demand notices dated 31.3.2017 and 18.5.2017 issued by the District Magistrate, Agra, respondent no.2 and further remit back matter to him to consider the claim of petitioners afresh in the light of his earlier letter dated 8.2.2017 and the report of the Assistant Inspector General Registration, Agra dated 29.12.2016. We hope and trust that the aforesaid exercise shall be completed by respondent no.2 expeditiously, preferably within a period of two months from the date of production of a certified copy of this order.
Writ petition stands partly allowed.
Order Date :- 26.9.2019 saqlain