Chief minister of a state has no power to allot land: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The chief minister of a state cannot allot land directly to a person as it amounts to "transgression" of the law and "usurpation" of the competent authority's power vested under the statute, the Supreme Court has ruled.

A bench of justices B S Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar rejected the plea that if a person fails to get relief from the competent authority he or she can approach the chief minister or other functionary for necessary relief.

"The chief minister could not take upon himself task of the authority. It tantamount to transgression/usurpation of competence. While deciding a representation/petition, an authority or court may issue direction to the person concerned to consider the grievance.

"However, it is not permissible to pass the order by the superior authority/court itself," Justice Chauhan writing the judgement said.

The apex court passed the ruling dismissing the review petition filed by family of late Manohar Lal who was alloted a piece of land in commercial location of Nehru Nagar, Ghaziabad by the then Uttar Pradesh chief minister in 1979, but subsequently cancelled on the directions of the Allahabad High Court.

Though Lal was initially offered a piece of land in 1975 by the Ghaziabad Development Authority for his land acquired, he rejected the offer. Instead Lal approached the chief minister who issued direction for allotment of a land in the commercial despite the statute prohibiting any such allotment.

The Allahabad High Court had quashed the allotment. He appealed in the Supreme Court which dismissed his plea. However, his legal heirs filed a review petition challenging the cancellation of his land.