ADDL. DISTT. MAGISTRATE (REV.) DELHI ADMN. ETC. versus SHRI SIRI RAM ETC.

Citation: [2000] 3 S.C.R. 1019 · Decided: 05-05-2000 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: S. SAGHIR AHMAD · Disposal: Dismissed

Cited by 3 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

' , 
I' 
ADDL. DISTT. MAGISTRATE (REV.) DELHI ADMN. ETC. 
A 
v. 
SHRI SIRI RAM ETC. 
MAYS, 2000 
[S. SAGHIR AHMAD AND S.N. PHUK.AN, JJ.] 
B 
Delhi Land Revenue Act, 1954-Sections 16, 20 21 & 40-Delhi Land 
Revenue Rules (as amended by the Notification dated 8.ll.1989)-Rules 49, 
63, 65 & 67 and Form P5-Amendment of rules-Whether ultra vires of the 
provisions of the Act--Held, yes-The rule making authority exceeded its 
c 
power conferred on it by the Act-Land Refo11ns Act, 1954. 
Interpretation of Statute-Conferment of rule making power by an Act 
does not enable the rule making authority to make rule which travels beyond 
the scope of the enabling Act-Land Reforms Act, 1954. 
D 
Rules 49, 63, 65 & 67 and Form PS of Delhi Land Revenue Rules 
were amended vide Notification dated 8.11.1989. The same were chal-
lenged in a writ petition before High Court as ultra vires of the provisions 
>--
of Delhi Land Revenue Act. High Court quashed the amended rules as 
ultra vires of the act, holding that it the amendments are given effect to, 
E 
possession of land of the person, will not be recorded in record-of-rights in 
'Excluded Areas' and other categories of land referred to in sub-rule (5) of 
Rule 63. Hence, appeal to this Court was r.le~. 
Dismissing the appeal, this Court 
F 
HELD: 1.1. As a result of the amendments made in Rule 49 and 
Rule 63 of the Delhi Land Revenue Rules, the rights of the tenure holder or 
a sub-tenure holder occupying land in 'Extended Abadi' or six categories 
of lands mentioned in the new sub-rule (5) of Rule 63 would be adversely 
affected as their possession of the land in these areas would not be reflected 
G 
in the record-of-rights and Annual Register. This is contrary to the provi-
sions of Land Revenue Act as well as Land Reforms Act. (1026-H) 
1.2. The Land Revenue Act did not empower the rule making au-
thority either to classify land or exclude any area from preparation of 
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1019 
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1020 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2000] 3 S.C.R. 
record-of-rights and Annual Register and therefore if the amendments are 
upheld, the result would be that a person would be deprived of his valuable 
right of possession in the excluded area as his name would not be recorded 
in the record-of-right. [1025-G-H] 
1.3. By amending Rule 49, the rule making autho_rity has excluded 
certain classes of land which is defined as ''Extended Abadi" from the 
operation of preparation of map and the field book. The Act does not 
authorise the rule making authority to exclude any area from the purview 
of Section 16 of the Land Revenue Act. Thus the rule making authority 
acted beyond its power. [1026-C] 
2. It is well recognised principle of interpretation of a statute that 
conferment of rule making power by an Act does not enable the rule 
making authority to make rule which travels beyond the scope of the 
enabling Act or which is inconsistent therewith or repugnant thereto. By 
amending the Rules and From PS, the rule making authority has exceeded 
the power conferred on it by land Reforms Act. [1027-B] 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 6255 of 1995 
Etc. Etc. 
From the Judgment and Order dated 17.1.95 of the Delhi High Court 
in C.W. No. 3153 of 1991. 
V.N. Ganpule, Ashok Panda, R.P. Bansal, D.S. Mehra, Ms. Rekha 
Pandey, S.N. Terdol, C.B. Veima, Mukesh K. Giri, C.S. Ashri, Pramit Saxena, 
S.V. Deshpande, B.K. Prasad, Sunil Gupta, Pramod Dayal and Praveen Jain 
for the appearing parties. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
PHUKAN, J. By this judgment we dispose of these appeals filed by 
the Delhi Administration against the judgment of the Division Bench of the 
Delhi High Court dated 7th January, 1995 passed in a batch of writ petitions. 
The High Court held that the amendments made to Rules 49, 63, 65 and 67 
and also to Form P5 of the Delhi Land Revenue Rules by the Notification 
dated 8.11.1989 are ultra vi res of the Provisions of Delhi Land Revenue Act, 
1954 (for short the Land Revenue Act). We quote below the old and the new 
amended Rules : 
-" 
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.J,. 
-t 
DISTT. MAGISTRATE v. SIRI RAM [PHUKAN, J.] 
1021 
OLD RULE 
"49 - Inspection tours - (1) In 
order to maintain the map and field 
book, the patwari shall make three 
field to field inspections every year 
of every village in his Halka. The 
tours shall begin respectively on Ist 
September and 15th February, 15th 
October and 15th March. The first 
and the second tours shall be com-
pleted on 30th September 

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