Laxmidhar Mohanty And Others vs State Of Odisha And Others
2021 Latest Caselaw 11047 Ori

                  IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
                              W.P.(C) No.20608 of 2016


            Laxmidhar Mohanty and Others                ....            Petitioners
                                                        Mr. Sidheswar Mohanty
                                          -versus-
            State of Odisha and Others                  ....      Opposite Parties
                                                       Mrs. Suman Pattanayak
                                              Additional Government Advocate

                       CORAM:
                       THE CHIEF JUSTICE
                       JUSTICE B.P. ROUTRAY
                                         ORDER

Order No. 28.10.2021

12. 1. This is the third round of litigation concerning the Petitioners compensation in respect of the houses of the Petitioners which were apparently demolished for the purpose of construction of road from Siripur to the Airport, Bhubaneswar.

2. First the Petitioner had filed writ petition i.e. W.P.(C) No.31319 of 2011 which were heard along with a batch of similar writ petitions and judgment was passed by this Court on 25th September, 2012 that on acquisition of the properties the Petitioners should be paid compensation on the basis of the market value prevailing in the locality including solatium interest.

3. When no compensation was paid, the Petitioners filed a second writ petition i.e. W.P.(C) No.1424 of 2013 which was disposed of by this Court on 8th January, 2014 with a direction to the Opposite Parties to furnish a copy of the land acquisition award to the

Petitioners within one month from the date of receipt of their application.

4. For a third time, the present petition has been filed complaining that despite the application having been made on 27th January, 2014 to the authorities, no compensation has yet been paid.

5. In reply to the present petition, it is pointed out by the Opposite Parties that the amount constituting the compensation for the acquisition of the property in question has been deposited in the Court of the Civil Judge (Senior Division), Bhubaneswar under Section 30 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (LA Act) on 26th November, 2011. This is including the structure value, solatium interest calculated against the above land by the then Land Acquisition Officer, Khurda.

6. It is submitted that despite the Petitioners being aware of the above deposit of money in the Court of the Civil Judge (Senior Division), the present Petitioners have not submitted the required papers nor cooperated with the LA staff during the enquiry for inclusion of their names in the award.

7. It is further pointed out that on 12th March, 2014 the LAO, Khurda had written to the Civil Judge (Senior Division) submitting information in Form XIX pertaining to Khata No.183 of village Jagamara with the required papers.

8. It is stated that a Misc Case has been filed in the above case for inclusion of the names of the Petitioners.

9. In that view of the matter, it will be open to the Petitioners now to pursue the matter in the Court of the learned Civil Judge, Senior Division claiming compensation in accordance with law.

10. Learned counsel for the Petitioners then prayed that a direction should be issued that the compensation should now be paid under the 2013 Act. This prayer cannot be acceded to with the acquisition having taken place and completed under the LA Act 1894. Therefore, compensation has to be paid only in terms of the LA Act 1894.

11. The writ petition is disposed of in the above terms.

12. An urgent certified copy of this order be issued as per rules.

(Dr. S. Muralidhar) Chief Justice

(B.P. Routray) Judge S.K. Jena/P.A.