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Allahabad High Court · body

2017 DIGILAW 1878 (ALL)

Sheela Devi v. State of Uttar Pradesh

2017-08-11

A.P.SAHI

body2017
JUDGMENT : Amreshwar Pratap Sahi, J. Heard learned counsel for the petitioners. This review application has been filed praying for review of the judgment dated 11th September, 2013. 2. Learned counsel for the petitioners has advanced various submissions including that the appointment of Assistant Collector and his exercise of jurisdiction in a particular Sub-Division should not be construed to be confined to one Sub-Division as his appointment is in a particular district and consequently in this case Sub-Divisional Magistrate/Assistant Collector of Sikandrabad had rightly extended the permission for negotiating the sale which in no way violates the provisions of Section 157-AA of the UPZA & LR Act, 1950. 3. Learned counsel has invited the attention of the Court to the various provisions of the UP Land Revenue Act, 1901 and the provisions of UPZA & LR Act, 1950 to substantiate his submissions and has also produced a notification dated 14th March, 2008 in relation to the consolidation proceeding of the village to urge that the said village may have been included in the new Tehsil Sadar, District Gautam Budh Nagar on reorganization, yet it remained part of the earlier Tehsil Sikandrabad and in such circumstances the grant of permission by the Sub-Divisional Officer/Assistant Collector Sikandrabad cannot be said to be patently without jurisdiction. 4. Having considered the aforesaid submissions even though the aforesaid ground cannot be stated to be a ground of review as no such issue had been raised when the writ petition was finally disposed of, yet in order to clarify the position, it is necessary to refer to the words and expressions used in the UPZA & LR Act, 1950 and the Land Revenue Act, 1901 to understand as to why the word "concerned" has to be emphasized for the purpose of such grant of permission by the Assistant Collector of a particular Sub-Division. 5. Section 11 of the Land Revenue Act, 1901 defines the powers of the State Government to create or bifurcate areas existing within the District or the Division. It is in exercise of such powers that the Tehsil of Sikandrabad also came to be reorganized and the village in question where the land is situated after organization came to form part of the Tehsil Sadar District Gautam Budh Nagar. The power to create Districts and Sub-Divisions as well as reorganization is available with the State Government. It is in exercise of such powers that the Tehsil of Sikandrabad also came to be reorganized and the village in question where the land is situated after organization came to form part of the Tehsil Sadar District Gautam Budh Nagar. The power to create Districts and Sub-Divisions as well as reorganization is available with the State Government. This necessarily entails the power of appointment of Assistant Collector/Sub-Divisional Officers and other Officers by the State Government for such Sub-Division. Learned counsel submits that this has to be understood in the light of Section 15 of the Land Revenue Act where the word Assistant Collector has been defined and the power of appointment is with the State Government which power indicates that Assistant Collector shall be appointed in the District and shall be sub-ordinate to the Collector. Section 18 also comes into play and has to read with Section 15 which clearly prescribes that the State Government may place any Assistant Collector in-charge of one or more Sub-Divisions of a District. 6. It is not the case of the petitioners that the Assistant Collector of Sikandrabad was exercising the powers of Assistant Collector Tehsil Sadar, District Gautam Budh Nagar on the date when the permission was granted. In such circumstances the Assistant Collector of Tehsil Sadar was a different person and official as against the Assistant Collector of Sikandrabad. 7. In order to understand the meaning of the word Sub-Division under Revenue Law, the definition under Section 3(27) of the 1950 Act should also be kept in mind. Thus, a Sub-Division is a separate area within the district with a separate Assistant Collector having respective jurisdiction in the Sub-Division. 8. Accordingly, in the instant case it was the Assistant Collector of Sub-Division Tehsil Sadar as on the date of grant of permission who had the authority to grant such permission as is envisaged under Section 157-AA. The Sub-Divisional Officer/Assistant Collector Tehsil Sikandrabad had not authority to issue any such permission. It is for this reason that this Court had arrived at a conclusion that the provisions of Section 157-AA were clearly attracted. 9. There is no ground made out for review of the judgment. Rejected.