Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Mahadev (D) By Lrs Kalawati vs Deputy Chief Engineer (Constructions) ... on 26 September, 2019
Author: Uday Umesh Lalit
Bench: Uday Umesh Lalit, Indira Banerjee
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NONREPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. OF 2019
(@ out of SLP (C) No.11301/2019
MAHADEV (D) BY LRS KALAWATI & ORS. Appellant(s)
VERSUS
DEPUTY CHIEF ENGINEER (CONSTRUCTIONS) SOUTH
CENTRAL RAILWAYS III & ANR. Respondent(s)
with
CIVIL APPEAL NO. OF 2019
(out of SLP(C) No. 16420-16422/2019
O R D E R
UDAY UMESH LALIT.J. Leave granted.
These appeals are directed against the judgment and final order dated 25.01.2017 passed by the High Court of Karnataka, Kalaburagi Bench in M.F.A.CROB No.1581/2013 and other connected matters.
The lands involved in the present matter were subject matter of acquisition where a preliminary Notification was issued on 19.05.2005 under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act [“Act” for short] for laying new Broad-Gauge Railway-line from Bidar to Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by INDU MARWAH Date: 2019.09.30 11:31:58 IST Gulbarga.
Reason:
The Land Acquisition Officer determined the compensation in 2 respect of three villages as under:-
(a) Lands situate in Shaikh Roza at the rate of Rs.1,25,500/-
per acre.
(b) Lands situate in Jafrabad at the rate of Rs.71,500/- per acre.
(c) While Lands situate in Taj Sulthanpur at the rate of Rs.63,500/- per acre.
It appears that References in the instance of certain land-holders in respect of same acquisition were dealt with at different stages by the Reference Courts. In respect of lands with which we are presently concerned, the Reference Court awarded compensation @ Rs.65 per sq. ft. in respect of lands situate in Village Jafrabad and Taj Sultanpur while in respect of lands situate in village Shaikh Roza it was awarded @ Rs.84 per sq. ft.
At the same time, the other Reference Applications preferred by some other land-holders were dealt with by the Reference Court and the compensation awarded in respect of lands situate in Shaikh Roza was @ Rs.187.5 per sq. ft. while in respect of lands situate in Jafrabad it was @ 142 per sq. ft.
The determination so made by the Reference Court was also the subject matter of challenge along with the challenge preferred by the present appellants before the High Court.
While considering all the matters together, the compensation awarded by the Reference Court @ Rs.187.5 & 3 Rs.142/- per sq. ft. in respect of lands situate in Shaikh Roza & Jafrabad, was reduced by the High Court to Rs.150/- & Rs.129/- respectively. However, the determination made by the Reference Court that the compensation be awarded @ Rs.84 per sq. ft. for Village Sheikh Roza and at Rs.65/- per sq. ft. in respect of villages Jafrabad and Tajsultanpur as regards lands of the present appellants, was affirmed by the High Court without any change.
With the assistance of the learned counsel for both sides, we have gone through the judgment of the High Court and the accompanying record. Our attention has also been invited to the Map of the area in question.
From the record, we are satisfied that qualitatively there was no difference between the lands belonging to the appellants and the other lands from the same villages where compensation at different rates was awarded by the High Court. All the lands are having same advantages and are equally placed in terms of location; and as such, there could not be any inter-se distinction between different parcels of lands. We, therefore, allow these appeals and direct as under:
(a) In respect of lands coming from village Shaikh Roza, the appellants shall be entitled to compensation @ Rs.150 per sq. ft. as was awarded to other lands from the same village.
(b) In respect of lands coming from village Jafrabad, 4 the appellants shall be entitled to compensation @ Rs.129/-
per sq.ft. as was awarded to other lands from the same village.
Since none of the appeals, presently before us, pertains to any lands coming from Tajsultanpur, we refrain from dealing with the issue in question, as regards the rate to be awarded to lands from Tajsultanpur.
With the aforesaid observations, these appeals stand allowed. No costs.
........................J. (UDAY UMESH LALIT) .......................J. (INDIRA BANERJEE ) New Delhi September 25,2019.
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ITEM NO.14 COURT NO.7 SECTION IV-A
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s). 11301/2019
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 25-01-2017 in MFACO No. 1581/2013 passed by the High Court Of Karnataka At Kalaburagi) MAHADEV (D) BY LRS KALAWATI & ORS. Petitioner(s) VERSUS DEPUTY CHIEF ENGINEER (CONSTRUCTIONS) SOUTH CENTRAL RAILWAYS III & ANR. Respondent(s) WITH SLP(C) No. 16420-16422/2019 (IV-A) Date : 26-09-2019 This petition was called on for hearing today. 6 CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE UDAY UMESH LALIT HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE INDIRA BANERJEE For Petitioner(s) Ms. Kiran Suri, Sr. Adv.
Mr. M.N. Patil, Adv.
Ms. Harsha M. Patil, Adv.
Mr. Sharanagouda Patil, Adv. Ms. Aishwarya Kr, Adv.
Ms. Supreeta Sharanagouda, AOR For Respondent(s) Mr. Sanjay Jain, ASG Mr. Aditya Sharma, Adv.
Kumar Shashank, Adv.
Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R Leave granted.
The appeals are disposed of in terms of the signed order .
(INDU MARWAH) (SUMAN JAIN) COURT MASTER BRANCH OFFICER
(signed order is placed on the file)