Allahabad High Court
Horam Singh & Others vs State Of U.P. & Another on 13 December, 2016
Bench: Surya Prakash Kesarwani
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?
A.F.R.
Court No. - 25
Case :- FIRST APPEAL No. - 690 of 1994
Appellant :- Horam Singh & Others
Respondent :- State Of U.P. & Another
Counsel for Appellant :- J.S. Srivastava,P.N. Tripathi
Counsel for Respondent :- S.C.
Hon'ble Surya Prakash Kesarwani,J.
Heard Sri P.N. Tripathi, learned counsel for the appellants and Sri Ramesh Upadhyay assisted by Sri Shivam Yadav, learned counsel for the respondent, NOIDA.
Briefly stated the facts of the present case are that by notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 ( hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') published in the U.P. gazette dated 30.4.1976 followed by notification under section 6 of the Act, certain lands of village Harola Makhanpur, Pargana and Tehsil Dadri, district Ghaziabad, were acquired. The possession was taken on 21.7.1976.
The Special Land Acquisition Officer made the award on 8.3.1977 offering compensation @ Rs.3.12 per Sq. yard. At the instance of tenure holders, the references were made under section 18 of the Act, which has been decided by the impugned judgment dated 27.5.1982 awarding compensation @ Rs.20,200/- per bigha which is about Rs. 6/- per Sq. yard.
Learned counsel for the appellants submits that the reference court has not correctly determined the compensation and infact, higher compensation should have been awarded, as has been awarded to other tenure holders @ 28.12 per Sq. yard.
Learned counsel for the respondents states that before the Special Land Acquisition Officer, the appellants/claimants have claimed compensation @ Rs.10/- per Sq. yard and as such they are not entitled for compensation over and above the aforesaid rate. He submits that the amended provision of Section 25 of the Act, are applicable in the facts and circumstances of the case and therefore, the compensation cannot be granted to the appellants over and above the amount claimed by them, as aforesaid, in view of the decision of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Land Acquisition Officer-Cum-DSWO, A.P. v. B.V. Reddy and Sons (2002)3 SCC463.
I have carefully considered the submissions of the learned counsels for the parties.
The date of acquisition, the date of award of Land Acquisition Officer and the date of judgment of the reference court are wholly undisputed. The amended Act of 1984 came into force w.e.f. 24.9.1984. Under the circumstances, the amended provision of Section 25 of the Act, are not applicable in the facts of the case.
In the case of A.P. v. B.V.Reddy and Sons (supra) Hon'ble Supreme Court held that the amended provisions of Section 25 of the Act not being retrospective in nature, the case in hand would be covered by unamended Section 25 of the Act. It was further held that Section 30 (2) of the Amending Act has no reference of Section 25 of the Act. It was further held that on the date the land was notified for acquisition under Section 4(1) of the Act, the unamended provision of Section 25 was in force and it was made known to all concerned that the reference court will have no power to award the amount in excess of the amount claimed by the claimants. Not only the language of the statute was clear and unambiguous, but also the question was not res-integra, in view of the decision in Dadu Yogendre Nath Singh v. Collector, Seoni (1977) 2 SCC 1. Until the statutory rigour contained in sub-section (1) of Section 25 stood obliterated by the amended provisions of Section 25 and until all restraints and embargoes placed for the court stood totally liberated, the reference court had no jurisdiction to award the amount in excess of the amount claimed by the claimants.
In view of the above discussion, particularly, in view of the law laid down by Hon'ble Supreme Court, as aforesaid, I find force in the submission of the learned counsel for the respondents that the appellants are not entitled to higher compensation than claimed i.e., Rs.10/- per Sq. yard.
For the reasons stated above, the appeal is allowed. The appellants shall be entitled to compensation of the acquired land @ Rs.10/- per Sq. yard along with all benefits and interest under the Act. The impugned judgment and decree are accordingly modified. The amount of compensation along with all benefits and interest shall be paid to the claimants-appellants within three months after adjustment of the amount already paid to them.
Order Date :- 13.12.2016
Ak/
