Nripendra Nath Sarkar vs Land Acquisition Collector
2023 Latest Caselaw 883 Cal

02.02.2023
 SL No.5
Court No.8
    (gc)


                           FAT 84 of 2013
                           CAN 3 of 2022

                       Nripendra Nath Sarkar
                                Vs.
                     Land Acquisition Collector,
                         Dakshin Dinajpur

                                 Mr. Sourav Sen,
                                 Ms. Sumitra Das,
                                                    ...for the Appellant.
                                 Mr. Aniruddha Mohanta,
                                            ...for the State Respondent.

By consent of the parties, the appeal and the

application are taken up together and disposed of by this

common order.

The appellant/petitioner has filed an application for

enhancement of compensation. In the appeal, the

appellant has filed an application for additional evidence

at the appellate stage. In the said application, the

appellant has disclosed the references made by the other

heirs and representatives of the deceased, Kalipada

Sarkar and it is submitted that the valuation made by the

L.A. Collector, Dakshin Dinajpur in respect of those

reference cases are required to be taken into

consideration in deciding the appeal. It is stated that for

same or similar plots of land, the valuations made are on

the higher side and there is no reason for the L.A.

Collector not to determine the valuation in respect of the

land of the appellant acquired under the Land Acquisition

Act on the said basis. The State has not preferred any

appeal against the judgment. The State has accepted the

valuation determined by the L.A. Collector. The question

is with regard to the enhancement. The appellant has

relied upon the reference cases in respect of the other co-

owners.

The learned Counsel for the State has raised

objection with regard to the similar treatment being

extended to the present appellant. It is submitted that

the lands of the referring claimant are not similar or same

to the lands that were acquired in respect of the reference

cases to which the appellant is now intending to rely upon

in the appellate stage. It appears that the reference cases

on which the appellant is now seeking to rely upon are

mostly decided under Section 18 of the West Bengal Land

Acquisition Act, 1894 after 29th November, 2012.

We feel that a fresh evidence is required to be taken

in respect of the reference cases that the appellant is now

seeking to rely upon and, accordingly, we remand the

matter to the Reference Court for adjudicating the dispute

between the parties with regard to the enhancement of

compensation only. The Reference Court is directed to

frame an issue with regard to the enhancement of

compensation over and above Rs.23 lakhs per acre on the

basis of the reference cases that are now being relied

upon by the appellant in this appeal.

We make it clear that we have not gone into the

merits of the reference cases on which reliance are now

being placed in the application for additional evidence.

Since no affidavit-in-opposition is filed, all

allegations are deemed to have been denied.

We request the learned Reference Court to dispose

of the reference case as expeditiously as possible and

preferably within a period of 8 (eight) weeks from the date

of communication of this order.

The appeal and the application, accordingly,

disposed of.

However, there shall be no order as to costs.

Urgent Photostat certified copy of this order, if

applied for, be given to the parties on usual undertaking.

(Uday Kumar, J.)                             (Soumen Sen, J.)