Common final order of the High Court of Chhattisgarh (Arvind Kumar Verma J) disposing of 33 writ petitions filed by lessees/shop-allottees of plots in the Bhilai Steel Plant Township (WPC Nos. 2280 to 4168 of 2025) against SAIL's offer/demand letters dated 01.04.2025 requiring, as preconditions of lease renewal, a one-time 'Applicable Land Premium' (25% of current land value), annual service charges (2%), ground rent (1%) and security deposit under the resolutions of the 340th Board meeting of 21/25.07.2008. The petitioners' 30/33-year lease deeds (executed 1982-1995) had capped renewal ground-rent enhancement at 50% and excluded fresh premium or service levies, and the District Collector, Durg (letter dated 31.07.2019) had clarified that premium is payable only at initial grant. Holding: (i) the leases had expired (illustratively 11.04.2024) and, absent the notice contemplated by Clause 5(6), no subsisting right survives; renewal is a fresh grant at the lessor's discretion on fresh terms, not a matter of right (Section 107, Transfer of Property Act; Hardesh Ores; State of West Bengal v. Calcutta Mineral Supply); (ii) SAIL, as absolute owner by assignment from the Central Government, could lawfully frame uniform Board-approved renewal terms; certified-valuation-based nominal rent and statutory charges are neither arbitrary nor discriminatory, State/Collector advisories do not bind SAIL, and historic low rates cannot estop policy revision; (iii) disputes concerning public premises under Section 2(e), Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971 lie exclusively with the Estate Officer (Ashoka Marketing, Constitution Bench), so the petitions were not maintainable; they were in any event held devoid of merits. Dismissed, with no order as to costs. Reliance on the Jharkhand High Court order in Hanuman Malla Surana v. SAIL was treated as factually distinguishable.
