THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ANR. versus ARUN KUMAR BASU AND ANR.

Citation: [1997] 3 S.C.R. 653 · Decided: 04-04-1997 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: K. RAMASWAMY, G.B. PATTANAIK · Disposal: Leave Granted & Allowed
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Judgment (excerpt)

THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ANR. 
v. 
ARUN KUMAR BASU AND ANR. 
APRIL 4, 1997 
(K. RAMASWAMY AND G.B. PATTANAIK, JJ.] 
West Bengal Estates' Acquisition Act, 1953 : Sections 2(i), 4(i), 
5,6, ( l)(c), (j) and JO. 
West Bengal La11d Ref onns Act, 1956 : Sectio11 3A. 
A 
B 
c 
Land Acquisition-Proceedings-Issue of Notification under Section 
4( 1 )-Notifying the vesti11g of the Estate i11 the State-Effect of-Held as a 
co11sequence, the pre-existi11g right, title a11d interest held by the Compa11y and 
vested i11 its liquidators for sale of prope1ty stood vested i11 the State free from 
all e11cumbra11ces-Mere inactio11 011 the palt of the Collector i11 11ot taki11g D 
possession of the land does not have a11y effect on vesting-Rejectio11 of 
co11te11tio11 that the Act has 110 applicatio11 to 11011-agricultural land-Sectio11 
6( l)(j) applies only to the agricultural la11ds or to the busi11ess of fan11-
i11g---R.ailway Company is not engaged in the business of fan11ing-171eref ore, 
it has no applicatio!t-Proprieta1y rights having been abolished by operation E 
of Section 4( 1) of the Act, Section 3A of the Land Refonns Act in this regard 
has 110 application. 
State of West Bengai & Ors. v. Suburban Agriculture Dairy & Firsheries 
Pvt. Ltd., (1993] Supp. 4 SCC 674, referred to. 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 3006 of 
1997. 
From the Judgment and Order dated 5.3.93 of the Calcutta High 
Court in A No. 465 of 1991. 
Tapas C. Ray, H.K. Puri, Rajesh Srivastava and Ujjwal Banerjee for 
the Appellants. 
P.B. Menon, Ms. Vijay Lakshmi Menon and Rohit Choudhary for 
F 
G 
the Respondents. 
H 
653 
654 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[1997) 3 S.C.R. 
A 
The following Order of the Court was delivered : 
Delay condoned. Leave granted. This appeal, by special leave, arises 
from the judgment of the Calcutta High Court made on March 5, 1993 in 
Appeal No. 465/91. 
B 
The admitted position is that the respondents are liquidators of 
erstwhile West Bengal Provincial Company Ltd. Proceedings have been 
placed before us to establish that the Bengal Government had acquired the 
land applying Chapter 8 of the Land Acquisition Act (1 of 1894) and 
delivered possession of the land admeasuring 30 miles for laying the railway 
C line. The specification of the land attached were given in Schedule-B to 
the acquisition Proceedings. 
The notification under Section 4(1) of the West Bengal Estates 
Acquisition Act, 1953 (for short, the 'Act') was published on April 16, 1954 
w.e.f. April 15, 1955 notifying the vesting of the estate in the State. The 
D consequence have been provided in Sections 4(1), 5 and 6 of the Act with 
a 11011-obsta11te clause excluding the applicability of any other provisions 
under Section 3 of the Act. As a consequence, the pre-existing right, titled 
and interest held by the company and vested in its liquidators for sale of 
the property, stood divested by operation of Section 4(1) of the Act and 
E vested in the State. The consequences of the notification and vesting have 
been considered by this Court in State of West Bengal & Ors. v. Suburba11 
Agriculture Dairy & Fisheries Pvt. Ltd., [1993] Supp. 4 SCC 674. This Court 
had held thus : 
"Admittedly, the Act came into force on February 12, 1954. 
F 
Notification under Sections 4(1) and (3) was published in the 
prescribed manner specifying the date of vesting of the estate and 
had come into effect from June 1, 1956. By operation of sub-section 
(1) of Section 5 the estate and all the rights of intermediaries 
including firsheries in the estate shall stand determined and ceased 
G 
H 
and stood vested in the State free from all incumbrances. "In-
cumbrance" defined under Section 2(h) of the Act means "in 
relation to estates and rights of intermediaries therein, does not 
include the rights of a raiyat or of an under-raiyat or of a non-
agricultural tenant, but shall, except in the case of land allowed to 
be retained by an intermediary under provisions of Section 6, 
include all rights or interests of whatever nature, belonging to 
--
STATE v. AK. BASU 
655 
intermediaries or other persons, which relates to lands comprised A 
in estates or to the produce thereof'. Therefore, title to rights or 
interests in lands which include fisheries held by an intermediary 
shall stand extinguished and ceased and stood vested in the State 
free of all incumbrances. The respondents being purchasers of 
leasehold interest in tank fisheries, as per their own case, it also
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