Act Info:
(1) The 1[State] Government may, at any time, release from requisition any land requisitioned or continue to be subject to requisition under this Act.
2[(1A) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the State Government shall release from requisition,-
(a) any land requisitioned or continued to be subject to requisition under this Act before the commencement of the Bombay Land Requisition (Amendment) Act, 1973, on or before the expiry of a period of 3[twenty-four years] from such commencement;
(b) any land requisitioned under this Act after such commencement, on or before the expiry period of 3[twenty-four years] from the date on which possession of such land was surrendered or delivered to, or taken by, the State Government or any officer authorised or empowered by the State Government.]
(2)
(a) Upon such release 4[under sub-section (1) or sub-section (1A),] the land shall be restored as far as possible in the same condition in which it was on the date on which the 1[State] Government was put in possession thereof, and the 1[State] Government shall pay compensation for deterioration, if any, caused to the land otherwise than by reasonable wear and tear or irresistible force :
Provided that, nothing in this sub-section shall apply to any structures, trees or crops standing on the land on the date on which the 1[State] Government took possession thereof and in respect of which compensation has been paid.
(b) The officer authorised in this behalf by the 1[State] Government shall determine such amount of compensation as he deems just and his decision, subject to an appeal to the 1[State] Government, shall be final. Such appeal shall be made within a period of thirty days from the date of the decision.
(3) When any land is to be released from requisition, the 1[State] Government may, after making such inquiry, if any, as it deems fit, specify by order in writing the person to whom possession of the land shall be given.
(4) The delivery of possession of the land to the person specified in an order made under sub-section (3) shall be a full discharge of the 1[State] Government from all liability in respect of such delivery but shall not prejudice any rights in respect of the land which any other person may be entitled by due process of law to enforce against the person to whom possession of the land is so delivered.
(5) Where the person to whom possession of any requisitioned land is to be given cannot be found and has no agent or other person empowered to accept delivery on his behalf, the 1[State] Government shall cause a notice declaring that the land is released from requisition to be affixed on some conspicuous part of the land and shall publish the notice in the Official Gazette.
(6) When a notice referred to in sub-section (5) is published in the Official Gazette, the land specified in such notice shall cease to be subject to requisition on and from the date of such publication and be deemed to have been delivered to the person entitled to possession thereof; and the 1[State] Government shall not be liable for any compensation or other claim in respect of the land for any period after the said date.
(7) For the purpose of releasing any land from requisition, the 1[State] Government may. by order, direct the person to whom the 1[State] Government had given possession of such land and other person, if any, in occupation of such land to deliver possession thereof to the officer authorised in this behalf by the 1[State] Government.
5[(8) On the date of coming into force of the Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control, Bombay Land Requisition and Bombay Government Premises (Eviction) (Amendment) Act, 1996, all the premises requisitioned or continued under requisition under this Act and allotted to Government allottees who on the said date 6[were in occupation or possession of such premises] shall be deemed to have been released from requisition, and in respect of such premises the State Government or, as the case may be, the Government allottees referred to in clause (b) of the Explanation, shall become the tenants by virtue of the provisions of section 15B of the Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control Act, 1947, and the compensation, if any, due in respect of such premises shall be determined and paid to the persons entitled thereto as if such premises were actually released under this section.
Explanation.- For the purposes of this sub-section, the expression "Government allottee"-
(a) in relation to any premises requisitioned or continued under requisition which are allotted by the State Government for any non-residential purpose to any department or office of the State Government or Central Government or any public sector undertaking or corporation owned or controlled fully or partly by the State Government or any co-operative society registered under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 or any foreign consulate, by whatever name called, and on the date of coming into force of the Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control, Bombay Land Requisition and Bombay Government Premises (Eviction) (Amendment) Act, 1996 7[are in their occupation or possession] means the principal officer-in-charge of such office or department or public sector undertaking or corporation or society or consulate; and
(b) in relation to any premises requisitioned or continued under requisition which are allotted by the State Government for residential purpose to any person and, on the date of coming into force of the Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control, Bombay Land Requisition and Bombay Government Premises (Eviction) (Amendment) Act, 1996 8[such person or his legal heir is in occupation or possession of such premises for his or such legal heir's own residence.]
NOTES
Statements of Objects and Reason.- The Bombay Land Requisition Act, 1948 (Bom. XXXIII of 1948), has been enacted for relieving the pressure of accommodation in urban areas by regulating distribution of vacant premises for public purposes. The Act was initially a temporary Act, the duration of which was extended, from time to time. By the Bombay Land Requisition (Amendment) Act, 1973, which came into force on the 27th December, 1973, the principal Act has been made permanent as it was realised by Government that the need to have a law for requisitioning of immovable property for public purpose would continue for a considerable time. By the said amending Act of 1973, it was further provided that no property shall be continued under requisition, if requisitioned before the commencement of that amending Act, for more than five years from the date of such commencement, and if requisitioned later, for more than five years from the date on which possession of such land was surrendered or delivered to, or taken by, the State Government or any officer authorised or appointed by the State Government. This period of five years has been extended from time to time upto twenty-one years, the last such extension being by the Bombay Land Requisition (Amendment) Act, 1993 (Mah. XIV of 1993). The period so extended in respect of the premises requisitioned before the commencement of the said amending Act of 1973, was to expire on the 26th December, 1994.
There are about 925 residential premises in Greater Bombay and about 198 in different districts under requisition, and about 120 non-residential premises in Greater Bombay and 32 in other districts in which office accommodation has been provided for the State Government officers and for others, including the Government of India and the Corporations. In some premises, rationing shops have also been accommodated. The area occupied by the State Government offices comes to 93,000 sq. ft. Majority of these premises have been requisitioned before the commencement of the said amending Act of 1973 and, therefore, on expiry of the period of twenty-one years on the 26th December, 1994, all these premises would have been required to be released from requisition by Government.
The Supreme Court in C. A. No. 1212 of 1984 H. D. Vora v. State of Maharashtra, (1984) 2 SCC 337, has held that the requisition of property by its very nature is of a temporary duration and Government cannot continue to hold a property under requisition for an indefinite period. As a result of this judgment many landlords of the requisitioned premises had approached the High Court to get their premises released from requisition and the High Court had in all such cases quashed the requisition orders. The Association of the Allottees of requisitioned premises had filed a Writ Petition No. 404 of 1986 in the Supreme Court of India decided the said Writ Petition along with other Writ Petitions No. 53 of 1993 and 27 of 1994 and give a final decision on the 27th April, 1994, upholding the decision of the Supreme Court in H.D. Vora's case and directed that, the occupants of the premises, the continued requisition of which was quashed, were bound to vacate and hand over vacant possession of such premises was initiated by Government. There were several other premises, the requisition orders in respect of which were not challenged in the Court, including approximately 38 other premises which were requisitioned after 27th December, 1973. However, all these cases were also being scrutinised by the Government expeditiously to determine the necessity to continue them under requisition and appropriate action would be taken in all such cases after due scrutiny, at the earliest.
After the last extension of the period of requisition in 1992, the Government has made constant efforts to de-requisition the maximum number of premises and hand them over to the landlords. To facilitate this process the Government had provided alternate accommodation to 50 Government servants in service, from the 10 per cent, quota under the Urban Land Ceiling Act, 1976. About 125 flats from the 10 per cent, quota were also to be allotted to Government employees, in service in near future. The Government employees who were willing to go outside Greater Bombay were being provided with alternate accommodation from the 10 per cent, quota at places outside Greater Bombay, on priority basis.
The Government has also been making efforts to shift Government offices and the other Government allottees occupying the requisitioned premises by making alternate arrangements. Until now 9,000 sq. ft. area has already been vacated and de-requisitioning of another 2,800 sq. ft. area is under process and would soon be handed over to landlords by Government. Some other offices have been given notices to vacate the p remises and give vacant possession.
The Government has also undertaken programme of constructing new buildings for Government offices in Greater Bombay. At Chembur, approximately 8,000 sq. ft. area will be made available by January, 1995. Besides, a building is being constructed at Bandra for the office of the Collector of Bombay Suburban District and it is expected that in that building some area for other offices will also become available.
As a result of the efforts made by the Government, out of the 1,920 requisitioned premises under requisition in 1992, now 1,275 premises have remained under requisition and it is Government's constant endeavour to derequisition all these premises at the earliest.
However taking into consideration the large number of residential and non-residential premises which were under requisition and extraordinary scarcity of accommodation and astronomical rise in prices of properties in Bombay, the period extended upto 26th December, 1994, by the Bombay Land Requisition (Amendment) Act, 1993 has proved to be insufficient. As aforesaid, due to paucity of funds available with Government and ever rising prices, it is very difficult to get suitable accommodation in Bombay for accommodating such large number of allottees of requisitioned pre mises. The Government has, however, been making every effort to give alternate accommodation to the Government employees in service occupying requisitioned premises and also for Government offices, in a phased manner. Though it is not binding on Government to provide alternate accommodation to the other Government allottees occupying the requisi tioned premises, at the same time it is also necessary, purely on humanitarian ground, to give them some time to make their own alternate arrangement.
In the facts and circumstances as aforesaid, it was considered expedient to extend the period of requisition under the Act for a further period of three years beyond the 26th December, 1994, so as to enable the State Government to complete the process of de-requisitioning during the extended period of three years. It was, therefore, proposed to suitably amend sub-section (1A) of section 9 of the principal Act extending the total period of requisition from twenty-one years to twenty-four years.- [Mah. Act No. 7 of 1995].
The Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control, the Bombay Land Requisition and the Bombay Government Premises (Eviction) (Amendment) Act, 1996 (Mah. XVI of 1997), has been enacted by the Government of Maharashtra with a view to protect the occupants of the requisitioned premises. In view of the Supreme Court Judgment in Grahak Sanstha Manch v. State of Maharashtra, AIR 1994 SC 2319, Government was required to obtain vacant possession of the requisitioned premises and hand over the vacant possession of the premises to the landlords of the premises, which would have rendered the allottees of the requisitioned premises homeless. In order to protect the Government allottees in occu pation of the requisitioned premises from being rendered homeless, it was imperative to find a solution to the problem from being rendered homeless, it was imperative to find a solution to the problem and to give some kind of statutory protection to the allottees of the requisitioned premises. Accordingly, statutory tenancy rights were conferred on the occupants of the requisitioned premises by the said Amending Act of 1996.
However, the Bombay High Court, in its judgment in Writ Petition No. 98 of 1997 with W.P. No. 72 of 1997, No. 881 of 1996 and Contempt Petition No. 2 of 1997, has taken a view that the words "such person or his legal heir is allowed by the State Government to remain in occupation or possession of such premises" used in clause (1A)(b) of amended section 5 of the Bombay Rent Act would not cover a person occupying the premises against whom eviction order has already been passed by the Competent Authority or by the Appellate Authority under the Bombay Land Requisition Act, 1948. This has resulted in denying the protection of the statutory tenancy to many of the allottees and thereby, to a great extent, defeating the very objective of the said enactment. Government, therefore, having regard to the observations of the Hon'ble Bombay High Court in the said judgment, to leave no room for any doubt or interpretation, considers it expedient to make suitable amendments to protect the occupants of the requisition premises, who were denied protection intended to be conferred by the said amendment as a result of the said Court order.- vide Statements of Objects and Reasons.- [Mah. Act No. 14 of 1998].
Object.- It is now clear that the need for a law of requisitioning of immovable property for public purposes will continue for some considerable time. The Law Commission in its Tenth Report recommended that the law of requisitioning should be embodied in a permanent code, and that no property should be kept under requisition for a period longer than 5 years. The Government of India has accordingly amended the Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property Act, 1952, by Act I of 1970 and Act I of 1973. The State Government had decided to amend the Bombay Land Requisition Act, 1948, on the lines of the Amendment Acts passed by the Government of India, i.e., to have permanent statutory powers of requisitioning of property for various public purposes whenever occasion arise with the safeguard that the property shall be continued under requisition after the commencement of the legislation for more than 5 years.- vide Statement of Objects and Reasons.
Deterioration.- The expression "deterioration" in section 9(2) (a) is not used as distinct from "damage"; it merely means "impairment in value". Such deterioration may, subject to the stated exceptions, be from natural causes as well as from human agencies, except where damage is done internationally or maliciously.- State v. Mishrilal Onkardas Joshi, ILR 1952 Bom. 771.
Release from requisition.- If the premises are not used for any public purpose then the Government is under obligation to release the premises from requisition.- Rangubai Pandurang Joshi v. State of Maharashtra, 1969 Mah. L.J. 880 : 1969 Bom. L. R. 624.
Expression 'may'.- The expression 'may' occurring in section 9(1) cannot be read as 'must'.- Swaran Kantilal Gupta v. State of Maharashtra, 1983 Mah. L.J. 393 : 1984 Mah. L R. 56.
De-requisition.- If at all derequisitioning is to be made the Government must pass an order under section 9(3) of the Act.- State of Maharashtra v. N. M. Shah, 1974 Mah. L .J. 589.
State Government cannot utilize premises requisitioned for a particular purpose for another purpose, public or otherwise.- Yusuf Ali Abdulla v. M. S. Kasbekar, AIR 1982 Bom. 135.
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1. The word "State" was substituted for the word" Provincial" by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950.
2. Sub-section (1A) was inserted by Mah. 51 of 1973, section 3(a).
3. These words were substituted for the words "Twenty-one years" by Mah. 7 of 1995, section 2.
4. These words, brackets, figures and letters were inserted by Mah. 51 of 1973, section 3(b).
5. Sub-section (8) was added by Mah. 16 of 1997, section 5.
6. These words were substituted for the words "were allowed by the State Government to continue or to remain in occupation or possession of such premises" by Mah. 14 of 1998, section 4(a) (w.e.f. 7.12.1996).
7. These words were substituted for the words "are allowed by the State Government to remain in their occupation and possession" by Mah. 14 of 1998, section 4(b)(i) (w.e.f. 7.12.1996).
8. These words were substituted for the words "such person or his legal heir is allowed by the State Government to remain in unlawful occupation or possession of such premises for his own or such legal heir's residence" by Mah. 14 of 1998, section 4(b)(ii) (w.e.f. 7.12.1996).