Orissa High Court
Atku Majhi vs ) The State Of Odisha .... Opposite ... on 9 July, 2024
Bench: D. Dash, V. Narasingh
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
WP(C) No.16293 of 2024
Atku Majhi Petitioner
Mr. B.K. Behera, Advocate
-versus-
1) The State of Odisha .... Opposite Parties
2) The Director(R&R) & Ex-
Officio Additional Secy. to
Govt.
3) The Special Land
Acquisition Officer
Mr. S.N. Das, ASC
CORAM:
Mr. JUSTICE D. DASH
Mr. JUSTICE V. NARASINGH
ORDER
09.07.2024 Order No.
01. 1. This matter is taken up through hybrid arrangement (virtual/physical) mode.
2. The Petitioner by filing this writ petition has invoked the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India praying for a direction to the Opposite Party Nos.2 and 3 to pay a sum of Rs.79,81,226/- towards the compensation for the acquisition of his land in connection with construction of Lower Indra Irrigation Project, Khariar.
3. Heard learned counsel for the Petitioner and learned Additional Standing Counsel.
Page 1 of 54. Keeping in view the submission made, the averments taken in the writ petition as also the documents annexed thereto being perused, it is seen that the Petitioner after passing of the award by the learned Civil Judge (Senior Division), Nuapada in L.A.R Case No.5 of 2013 on 03.07.2018 in the matter of a reference in connection with the acquisition of land of another under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, this Petitioner had filed an application under Section 28-A of the Act, for grant of compensation for his acquired land in tune with the said award. Such application being filed, it appears that the Special Land Acquisition Officer and RRO simply scrutinizing the application and verifying the documents has held that the claim of the Petitioner to be genuine for being entitled to higher compensation under Section 28-A of the Act, and that being annexed with a calculation sheet as to the entitlement of the Petitioner to receive the compensation has been communicated to the Director R&R- cum-Ex-Officio Additional Secretary to Government in the Department of Water Resources vide letter dated 28.06.2024.
5. At this stage we feel it apposite to re-produce Section 28-A of the Land Acquisition Act,1894 for proper appreciation.
"28-A. Re-determination of the amount of compensation on the basis of the award of the Court- (1)Where in an award under this Part, the Court allows to the applicant any amount of compensation in excess of the amount awarded by the Collector under Sec.11, the persons interested in all the other land covered by the same notification under Sec.4, Sub-section (1) Page 2 of 5 and who are also aggrieved by the award of the Collector, may, notwithstanding that they had not made an application to the Collector under Sec. 18, by written application to the Collector within three months from the date of the award of the Court require that the amount of compensation payable to them may be re-determined on the basis of the amount of compensation awarded by the Court;
Provided that in computing the period of three months within which an application to the Collector shall be made under this Sub-section, the day on which the award was pronounced and the time requisite for obtaining a copy of the award shall be excluded.
(2) The Collector shall, on receipt of an application under Sub-section (1), conduct an inquiry after giving notice to all the persons interested and giving them a reasonable opportunity of being heard, and make an award determining the amount of compensation payable to the applicants.
(3) Any person who has not accepted the award under Sub-section (2) may, by written application to the Collector, require that the matter, be referred by the Collector for the determination of the Court and the provisions of Secs.18 to 28 shall, so far as may be, apply to Page 3 of 5 such reference as they apply to a reference under section 18."
6. On a careful reading of the provision as aforestated the action by the Special Land Acquisition and RRO on the application under Section 28-A of the Act, filed by the Petitioner is not found to be in consonance with the said provision of law. It be stated here that the Authority on receiving an application as provided under Section 28-A of the Land Acquisition Act,1894 is called upon to decide it as to whether the application is within the limitation as prescribed and whether the Petitioner would be entitled to the benefits which have been provided to the person under the award which has been passed by the Civil Court, which is banked upon for the purpose to re-determination of the amount of compensation. For the purpose the Authority has to first of all arrive at a conclusion that the land of the Petitioner before him was the land which was covered under the same notification under Sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Act in which the land covered under the referral proceeding found mentioned.
The Authority next more importantly is required to make comparison of the nature of the land, type of construction and all other associated factors in arriving at a conclusion in re-determining the compensation strictly in terms of the award placed before it.
In the absence of above exercise being made in the given case, while deprecating the manner of disposal of the application under Section 28-A of the Act, in view of the aforesaid, we hereby quash the letter dated 28.06.2024 vide Annexure 2 and the calculation sheet annexed thereto.
Page 4 of 5We now direct Special Land Acquisition and RRO, Khariar to take up the application under Section 28-A of the Act, afresh for hearing and disposal strictly in adherence to the provisions contained in Section 28-A of the Act, keeping in mind that the said redetermination may stand for scrutiny before the forum as provided under the Act.
7. The land of the Petitioner having been acquired in the year 2001, we hereby direct the Special Land Acquisition and RRO, Khariar to proceed with the matter as expeditiously as possible for its disposal in accordance with law within a period of three months from the date of receipt of this order or its communication whichever is earlier.
8. The writ petition is disposed of.
Issue urgent certified copy of this order as per rules.
(D. Dash) Judge (V. Narasingh) Judge PKS/Soumya Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: SOUMYA RANJAN SAMAL Reason: Authentication Location: High Court of Orissa Date: 11-Jul-2024 19:01:55 Page 5 of 5