Report No. 10

43. Release from requisitioning.-

(1) The appropriate Government may, at any time, release from requisition any land requisitioned under this part and shall, as far as possible, restore the land in as good a condition as it was when possession thereof was taken subject only to the changes caused by reasonable wear and tear and irresistible force:

Provided that where the purposes for which any requisitioned land was being used cease to exist, the appropriate Government shall, unless the land is acquired under section 49, release that land, as soon as may be, from requisition.

(2) Where any land is to be released from requisition the competent authority may, after such inquiry, if any, as it may in any case consider necessary to make or cause to be made, specify by order in writing the person to whom possession of the land shall be given and such possession shall, as far as practicable, be given to the person from whom possession was taken at the time of the requisition or to the successors-in-interest of such person.

(3) The delivery of possession of the land to the person specified in an order under sub­section (2) shall be a full discharge of the appropriate Government from all liability in respect of the land, 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 given.

(4) Where any person to whom possession of any requisitioned land is to be given is not found and has no agent or other person empowered to accept delivery on his behalf, the competent authority shall cause a notice declaring that the land is released from requisition to be affixed on some conspicuous part of the land and shall also publish the notice in the Official Gazette.

(5) When a notice referred to in sub-section (4) 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 shall be deemed to have been delivered to the person entitled to possession thereof, and the appropriate Government shall not be liable for any compensation or other claim in respect of the land for any period after the said date.

(6) Where any land requisitioned under this; part or any material part thereof is wholly destroyed or rendered substantially and permanently unfit for the purpose for which it was requisitioned by reason of fire, earthquake, tempest, flood, or violence of any army or of a mob or other irresistible force, the requisition shall, at the option of the appropriate Government, be void:

Provided that the benefit of this sub-section shall not be available to the appropriate Government where the injury to such land is caused by any wrongful act or default of that Government.

[Section 6, R.A.]