Bombay High Court

Nagnath Amruta Jadhav vs The State Of Maharashtra Thr ... on 30 August, 2021

Bench: R. G. Avachat

                                         1          FA-1732 to 1736-2018.doc



             IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY
                        BENCH AT AURANGABAD

                          FIRST APPEAL NO. 1732 OF 2018
 Nagnath Amruta Jadhav
 Age - 65 yrs. Occ - Agri.,
 R/o Dadgi, Tq. Nilanga, Dist. Latur                   ... Appellant
                                                       (Orig. Claimant)
          Versus
 1.       The State of Maharashtra
          Through Collector, Latur,
          District Latur
 2.       The Sub-Divisional Officer,
          Land Acquisition Officer,
          Udgir, Tq. Udgir Dist. Latur
 3.       The Tahsildar Nilanga
          Tq. Nilanga Dist. Latur                      ... Respondents


                          FIRST APPEAL NO. 1733 OF 2018

 Mahada s/o Mudhappa Boyane
 died (through L R's)
 Gundaji s/o Mahada Boyane
 died (through L R's)
 Prakash Gundaji Boyane
 Age - 58 yrs. Occ - Agri.
 R/o Dadgi Tq. Nilanga, Dist. Latur                    ... Appellant
                                                       (Orig. Claimant)
          Versus

 1.       The State of Maharashtra
          Through Collector, Latur,
          District Latur
 2.       The Sub-Divisional Officer,
          Land Acquisition Officer,
          Udgir, Tq. Udgir Dist. Latur



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 3.       The Tahsildar Nilanga
          Tq. Nilanga Dist. Latur                      ... Respondents


                          FIRST APPEAL NO. 1734 OF 2018

 Ram s/o Dhondiba Boyane
 Age: 45 years, Occ: Agriculture,
 R/o: Dadgi, Tq. Nilanga,
 Dist. Latur                                           ... Appellant
                                                       (Orig. Claimant)
          Versus

 1.       The State of Maharashtra
          Through Collector, Latur,
          District Latur
 2.       The Sub-Divisional Officer,
          Land Acquisition Officer,
          Udgir, Tq. Udgir Dist. Latur
 3.       The Tahsildar Nilanga
          Tq. Nilanga Dist. Latur                      ... Respondents


                          FIRST APPEAL NO. 1735 OF 2018

 Nagnath S/o Gyana Boyane
 Age - 65 yrs. Occ - Agri.,
 R/o. Dadgi Tq. Nilanga, Dist. Latur                   ... Appellant
                                                       (Orig. Claimant)
          Versus

 1.       The State of Maharashtra
          Through Collector, Latur,
          District Latur
 2.       The Sub-Divisional Officer,
          Land Acquisition Officer,
          Udgir, Tq. Udgir Dist. Latur




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 3.       The Tahsildar Nilanga
          Tq. Nilanga Dist. Latur                        ... Respondents


                          FIRST APPEAL NO. 1736 OF 2018

 Santram s/o Gyanna Boyane
 (Died) through his L.R.
 Shahuraj s/o Santram Boyane,
 Age - 52 yrs. Occ - Agri.,
 R/o. Dadgi, Tq. Nilanga, Dist. Latur                    ... Appellant
                                                         (Orig. Claimant)
          Versus

 1.       The State of Maharashtra
          Through Collector, Latur,
          District Latur
 2.       The Sub-Divisional Officer,
          Land Acquisition Officer,
          Udgir, Tq. Udgir Dist. Latur
 3.       The Tahsildar Nilanga
          Tq. Nilanga Dist. Latur                        ... Respondents

                                   ....
 Mr. Shashikiran N. Patil, Advocate for appellants
 Shri P. M. Kulkarni, AGP for respondents
                                   ....

                                       CORAM : R. G. AVACHAT, J.

RESERVED ON : 02nd AUGUST, 2021 PRONOUNCED ON : 30th AUGUST, 2021

J U D G M E N T :-

. These First Appeals are admitted and taken up for final

hearing with the consent of learned Advocates for the parties.



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2. All these appeals are being decided by this common

judgment, since common questions of facts and law arise therein.

3. The challenge in these appeals is to the award(s) dated

10.01.2011, passed by the learned Civil Judge, Senior Division,

Nilanga in respective Land Acquisition References (LARs), granting

enhancement in amount of compensation offered by the Special

Land Acquisition Officer (SLAO). The appellants, in fact, did not

prefer these appeals within limitation. There was delay of little over

seven years in preferring these appeals. This Court has, vide orders

dated 19.09.2017, condoned the delay. The appellants herein have

based their challenge on the ground of parity.

4. Shri S. N. Patil, learned Advocate for the appellants,

would submit that the lands belonging to the appellants herein along

with other adjacent lands, were acquired for rehabilitation of village

Dadgi. The acquisition took place pursuant to one and the same

notification published under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act

(for short 'the Act') All the land owners preferred LARs. Some of

which, came to be decided independently. LAR No.15 of 2000 is one

of such matters. The same was allowed granting compensation with

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per square feet rate. The respondent - State had preferred appeals

against the judgment and award passed in LAR No. 15 of 2000 along

with condonation of delay applications. This Court, vide order dated

30.09.2014, rejected the applications for condonation of delay. Thus,

the award granting compensation with per square feet rate attained

finality. The appellants herein, are similarly placed. Therefore, they

deserve to be granted compensation at the rate granted by the

Reference Court in LAR No. 15 of 2000. The learned Advocate relied

on the judgment of this Court in the case of Arvind Sukha Acharya

vs Special Land Acquisition Officer and another - 2011 (5) Bom.C.R.

692 and the judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in

the case of Ningappa Thotappa Angadi (Dead) through LRs vs. The

Special Land Acquisition Officer and another in Civil Appeal

No.9415 of 2019 and in the case of Murali Alias Dhananjayan vs.

State of Kerala in Civil Appeal No. 138 of 2012.

5. The learned AGP would, on the other hand, submit that

the appellants have approached this Court very late. They cannot

claim parity with the claimants in LAR No.15 of 2000. He, therefore,

urged for dismissal of the appeals.




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6. I have perused the impugned awards to find the

appellants to have had placed reliance on the judgment and award

passed in LAR No.15 of 2000. The learned Reference Court observed

as under:-

"12. The learned counsel of the claimants have relied upon a decision passed by Reference Court in L.A.R. No.15/2000 decided on 03.05.2008. On perusal of the judgment below Exh.29 relied upon by the claimants, it appears to me that the judgment is delivered on the basis of sale-deed below Exh.36 in respect of land situated in village Dadgi. The sale instance below Exh.36 is appears to be executed in respect of house with plot, which clearly appears to me that it is not suitable and comparable sale instance to determine the market price. Therefore, it is not safe to rely upon the judgment for determination of market price. Therefore, I discard it for determination of market price."

7. In the case of Arvind Sukha Acharya (supra), in para 3,

it has been observed thus:

"The learned Single Judge, held on the reliance of the judgment of the Apex Court in several cases including the case of (M/s. Printers House Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Mst. Saiyadan (deceased) by LRs & others) 2, reported in 1993 DGLS (soft) 886 : 1994 S.C. 1160, where the Supreme Court has held as follows:-

If Comparable Sales Method of Valuation of Land is adopted for determining the market-value of an acquired plot of land, it generally holds good for determination of the market-value of several acquired plots of land if the acquisition of all such plots of land is made pursuant to the same preliminary Notification.

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4. Since the survey numbers in both the appeals relate to the lands acquired under proceeding of the same preliminary notification, I see no reason to award a different rate of compensation from the rate awarded in the earlier case under the same notification. Accordingly, the compensation in both the cases is enhanced from 4/- per square metre to 21/- per square metre, but, excluding the values of trees, fruits and statutory allowances."

8. Admittedly, the lands belonging to the appellants have

been acquired for rehabilitation of village Dadgi. The lands subject

matter of LAR No.15 of 2000, were the land adjacent to the lands

belonging to the appellants herein and have also been acquired for

the same purpose. The notification issued under Section 4 of the Act

in respect of all those lands, is one and the same. The appellants

herein, are therefore, entitled to have compensation at the rate

granted by the Reference Court in LAR No. 15 of 2000. In view of

the same, the appeals are allowed in terms of the following order:

ORDER

(i) All the First Appeals are allowed.

(ii) The appellants be granted compensation at the rate

Rs.5/- per square feet, as has been awarded/calculated

in terms of para 31(1) of the award dated 03.05.2008

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passed in LAR No.15 of 2000, subject to variation in

area of the lands belonging to the appellants.

(iii) The appellants, however, shall not be entitled to

interest for the period from the date of impugned

award in the LAR i.e. from 10.01.2011 to 31.03.2020,

since after condonation of delay vide order dated

19.09.2017. The appellants could have circulated these

matters for relief.